


GIDEON

by Jamie_writes99



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Best Friends, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, D'Qar, Father-Daughter Relationship, Major Character Injury, Millennium Falcon - Freeform, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Movie: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Original Character(s), Platonic Relationships, Poe Dameron is a Good Friend, The Resistance Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 61,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25855369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jamie_writes99/pseuds/Jamie_writes99
Summary: After the fall of the Empire, the New Republic has done its best to ensure peace and justice throughout the galaxy.Now, with the rise of the First Order from empirical ashes, the very peace the Rebels fought for all those years ago is at stake.Captain Gideon Oswald is a woman who is very good at getting what she wants... that is, she's good at being paid to get what other people want. She's been one of the biggest deal makers in the galaxy over the last few years, where she's not only made a name for herself, but has made a lot of unwanted enemies.After getting hired by the First Order to acquire the location of the Resistance's new Headquarters, Gideon is pulled into the very thing she's been trying to avoid: her past, and the war.However, there's a lot more to this war than meets the eye.Originally Posted on Wattpad
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

"General Hux, I presume you have failed to locate another vital Resistance Base." Kylo Ren chided as he stalked the general in the command center. They had just deployed five fleets of Stormtroopers in order to capture what the First Order had just found out was a fake base. All of the Rebels who they had captured were either dead or were able to get away.

"Do not underestimate my methods, Lord Ren." Hux retorted, "I am working with limited troops here. You and the Supreme Leader did not exactly give me the adequate resources to-"

The general was cut short, choking on nothing. His desperate eyes went to Kylo Ren's gloved hand, which he held out in front of him, masterfully using the Force to choke his comrade.

"Are you questioning the decisions our Supreme Leader has made?" Lord Ren asked darkly, flicking his wrist so that the general was brought closer to the masked figure, "Do you have doubts, General Hux?" 

The general shook his head, "No, Lord Ren-"

"Then you will get the job done." The masked knight of Ren commanded as he released the general, "We need that location. Supreme Leader Snoke wants the Resistance wiped about before they make their next advance."

"Well, why don't we use our new weapon?" General Hux suggested, "We know the New Republic supports the Resistance. We can wipe them out as a demonstration."

Kylo Ren turned towards the general, "We cannot make any major advances until we know the location of the base. If we use our weapon too soon, we risk the chance of the Resistance moving to destroy it."

General Hux nodded, the gears in his head turning as he thought of his next plan of attack. They needed the location of the new Resistance base. Without it, they risk the chance of letting the Rebels get too many allies and resources. They needed to smother them out.

Especially since somewhere out there, someone held the key to finding Luke Skywalker, and there was a race to see who could find it first.

"What if we tried a more... unconventional approach?" General Hux turned, a more sinister smile spreading on his cold features, "I have two Intelligence Officers working on getting the location of a known scavenger, infamous for getting people information."

"And why would you be wasting time on that?" Kylo Ren questioned the general, "You do not have time for side missions, Hux."

General Armitage Hux still kept his cool, heading to a nearby computer to show the Knight of Ren what his intentions were. As he typed in the needed commands to pull up the information he needed, he smiled confidently. He knew that this would work.

"One of the successes of the Galactic Empire was its effective use of spies, smugglers, and bounty hunters in order to get the information they needed about the Rebellion." Hux explained, "Our ground agents have heard of a name, of someone who can get us the information we need with little to no trouble."

Kylo Ren took a few steps towards the general, peering over his shoulder as Hux displayed a hologram of the scavenger they had in mind.

The mug shot of a young woman appeared in front of them. She looked to be in her mid twenties, with dark curls chopped to her chin and dark eyes to match. There was a mischievous, smart-ass look about her, as if she was a regular at getting into trouble and then later getting away with it. In the mug shot she was wearing a dark tank top, one of her bare arms bearing a sleeve of intricate tattoos. Her face was smudged with grease and soot, a single bruise painted across her lip.

In her hands she held a mug plate, donning her name and crime:

**_Captain Gideon Oswald_ **

_Grand Theft_  
_Destruction of Property_  
_Arson_  
_Smuggling_  
_Pirating_

General Hux grinned, "She flies an old smuggler freighter, called the Stargazer. We got her location from one of our eyes at the New Republic."

Kylo Ren studied the woman for a moment, his expression unknown under his infamous mask, "What is so important about this criminal in particular?"

"She has a particular talent for getting what she wants." the general explained, "She also has a lot of enemies at the New Republic."

"What can she do for us?" Kylo Ren asked General Hux, not sounding convinced of the plans, "How do we get her to do what we want?"

"That will be easy." Hux shrugged, "She's a criminal, some lowlife scum of a nobody. Getting her to do what we want will be easy. It's what we do with her after we must take into consideration."

There was a silence between the two leaders as they stared at Captain Oswald's mug shot. She was currently their best and easiest chance at getting the information they needed. The Resistance would not expect a move like this from them, considering the usual style of their attacks.

"Find her." Lord Ren turned away, exiting the command center, "Bring her to me."


	2. The Intimidation Game

"Hey, I told you I was cooperating. What's with the cuffs?"

Captain Gideon Oswald was being escorted through Starkiller Base, two Stormtroopers on either side of her. She tugged on the cuffs with an irritable sigh, rolling her eyes at the familiar pinching feeling around her wrists.

"This is protocol." The trooper on her left explained, "Just to make sure you don't try anything smart. We've heard a thing or two about you."

Gideon quirked a brow, "Then I guess my reputation precedes me."

"General Hux and Lord Kylo Ren have heard a lot about you from our Intelligence Officers." The Stormtrooper on the captain's right added, "They've arranged a meeting. We're taking you to the General's Office."

The woman stopped, causing the two troopers to bump into her, giving her a shove to keep her moving. Nerves twisted her stomach, her palms going clammy from the sudden realization of her situation. This was the First Order, the most feared military organization in the galaxy. General Hux and Lord Kylo Ren were names that brought fear whenever they were uttered.

"A meeting?" She repeated, blowing a piece of hair away from her face, "With me?"

"That's what we just said." The trooper to her left sassed, "Now stop dragging your feet."

Gideon nodded, uttering an apology laced with bitter attitude. She studied the halls around her, growing more and more nervous the deeper into the base they seemed to be going. Her personal agenda grew clouded with hopeless plans of escape, wanting more than ever to get back to her ship and continue her run to Ryloth to pick up stolen goods.

However, she had the feeling that she would not be seeing Ryloth anytime soon.

They suddenly stopped in front of a large metal door, engraved with the name General Armitage Hux in bold boxy calligraphy. The troopers opened the door, motioning with their blasters for the young woman to enter.

"Captain Oswald, a pleasure to finally have you in my presence." The man sitting at the rather large desk motioned for her to come in. Despite his seemingly welcoming demeanor, there was something cold and sinister about him. Pride and arrogance seemed to radiate off of him, from the way he sat with his nose pointed slightly upwards, to the slickness of his red hair.

Off to his right, standing silently and menacingly was a masked figure donned in an all-black uniform. In his belt was a lightsaber, which he displayed as a means of intimidation. The captain could only assume this was Lord Kylo Ren, since he was the only other person who requested an audience with her.

"General Hux." Gideon nodded to the ginger seated at the large desk, her tone indicating that she was not entirely sure who he was. It was half true, but she mainly used that tone to hurt his pride just a bit.

"Leave us." The masked figure said to the two Stormtroopers, motioning for them to leave, "This is a private matter."

Gideon stiffened at the word private, her mind going to the many different scenarios that could play out. These were two important leaders of the First Order, and they wanted to speak with her privately. Nothing good could come from that.

"I heard you've done your research on me." She broke the silence, mostly to keep herself calm. She eyed the both of them, trying to keep her expression even, "I'm curious to know why."

General Hux stood, taking the moment to push in his plush office chair and casually walk around to the front of the desk. Gideon's eyes didn't leave him, which was her way of showing that she was not scared of them... even if she was just a little bit (but she would never willingly admit that).

"I am sure you are well aware of the power and capabilities of the First Order." General Hux broke the silence, "As well as its massive influence over the galaxy."

The general looked up at her expectantly, waiting for a reply. Gideon could also feel the eyes of Kylo Ren on her, despite not being able to see his face.

"I guess you could say that." The captain replied coolly, "But I don't like to get involved in politics... or war."

General Hux faked a waxy smile, though it was obvious he wasn't exactly thrilled at the woman's remark. He paced the area in front of his desk, hands folded neatly behind his back. He was very well groomed and proper for a war general. He didn't look like he had been on the front lines a day in his life.

"Well, politically informed or not, I am positive you know about the Resistance, of its growing presence in the galaxy." He continued, "It is becoming a pesky, frankly annoying, issue."

Gideon said nothing, brows furrowed as she eyed the general, "As informational as this introduction is, I am not quite following."

Kylo Ren took a step forward, "We need to snuff out the Resistance, especially with the development of our new assets. We have heard from our Intelligence Officers that you can get us the location of their new Headquarters."

"You should let him talk more, he gets right to the point." Gideon smirked at General Hux, who was not at all amused by the young captain's remark. She cleared her throat nervously, "I do not know what you've heard from who, but that is a very... specific accusation."

"Don't be so naive, Captain Oswald." General Hux warned, "You're forgetting where you are and who you're talking to. You're in no position to be patronizing."

The air in the room grew tense, the only sound was the clinking of Gideon fiddling with her handcuffs. She visibly looked more nervous, taking a deep breath as she thought about her response. The confident and slightly cocky look in her eyes was replaced with a more intelligent, serious one.

"I know." She said, "What exactly do you want from me? It's not everyday you get dragged to the First Order and not immediately get killed or imprisoned right away."

"We have decided to take a different approach to get the Resistance Intel we need." Kylo Ren spoke, his voice muddled, "Our methods have been too recognizable, too exact. You're exactly what we need."

Gideon raised a brow, a sort of familiarity about the whole situation, "So... you want to hire me for a job?"

"Hire you?" General Hux shook his head, "You won't be getting paid."

"I'm sorry, but I do not just do things out of the goodness of my heart. Not these kinds of things." the captain shook her head irritably, "If I do whatever it is you want me to do, then you need to give me something in return. That's how I do business."

There was a sudden change in the air, and Gideon felt a pressure enclose around her throat, cutting off her airway. She immediately looked to Kylo Ren, who had his hand up, his fingers curled ever so slightly, demonstrating his immense connection to the almighty Force. Gideon reached her hands up, letting out a strangled gasp, her eyes watering and widened.

"You want to make a deal?" He spat, "You find us the location and any other information you can get of the Resistance Headquarters, and maybe we'll let you live."

Gideon said nothing, continuing to claw at her throat, a pressure building behind her eyes.

"Do we have a deal?" Lord Ren asked, mocking the tone of voice the captain had used earlier. He closed his fist slightly, causing the captain to become more urgent in her gasping for air.

"Y-yes." She sputtered, nodding her head, "Deal."

Kylo Ren suddenly released her. Gideon sucked in a few desperate breaths for air, her eyes glaring daggers at the two First Order leaders in front of her. Her cuffed hands rubbed at her sore throat for a moment before they returned, resting in front of her.

"I'm glad we were able to negotiate." The masked man chided.

"So," The captain cleared her throat, which was hoarse and quieter, "When do I start?"


	3. My Way

Much to her disappointment and annoyance, Gideon was thrown into a holding cell overnight. General Hux had briefly explained before she was carted away by four Stormtroopers that they were to start the mission at 0600 hours. The captain did not know what he meant by "they," but she wasn't given enough time to think about it before she was greeted by the metal four walls of her cell.

She didn't sleep that night either. It was partly because of the fact that there wasn't anywhere to even sit, let alone lay down and sleep comfortably. It was just eight square feet of dark grey metal and dim florescent lighting. Gideon just found herself slumped in the corner, arms folded, staring at the wall as she planned out her mission in her head.

They had asked her to do something she really didn't want to. Gideon did not like to get too involved with the war, mainly because she didn't like it. The dark side and the light side have been fighting for so long, there was never going to be a definite end to it all. This galaxy couldn't survive without war. When she turned eighteen she swore that she would not get involved. She wanted her own life, to create her own path.

Obviously, given where she was currently sulking, that didn't turn out too well for her.

The door to her cell suddenly opened. The captain had expected Stormtroopers to come in and escort her out of her cell, but only one person walked into her cell.

"Let's go." Kylo Ren's altered and robotic voice filled the small room, he motioned for her to follow him, "It's time to leave."

Gideon got to her feet, blinking the fatigue out of her eyes from not sleeping that night. As soon as she stood, he unsheathed his light saber, the red cross blade crackling in the dimly lit room.

The woman froze as he turned towards her, her heart beat quickening. Then, he raised his other hand, and her bound wrists were brought towards him. Wordlessly he cut her handcuffs off her wrists, allowing her to have proper the use of her hands. As soon as the deed was done, he unlit the weapon and placed it back on his belt.

Gideon had to practically run to catch up to him after that.

"Are you... are you coming with me?" Gideon asked curiously as she followed the man out of the cell block.

"Yes." He answered plainly, "I'm taking it upon myself to make sure you don't pull any tricks."

"How noble of you." She rolled her eyes, "I usually work alone... actually I always work alone. It's just best that way."

"Do you think I care?" Kylo replied, "You can't be trusted."

The captain opened her mouth to retort his statement, but she cut herself short. He was right. If Gideon was in his situation... she wouldn't trust herself either. She also remembered how easily he used the Force to strangle her when she mouthed off.

After Kylo Ren navigated through the hallways, they entered a large hangar. Parked by the First Order's Special Forces Tie Fighters was her ship.

"We're taking my ship." The captain said, stopping in her tracks. The masked man in front of her turned around when he noticed she wasn't following him to a cruiser.

"And what makes you think that?" He asked her.

Gideon shrugged, "You told me you wanted to take a different approach to getting this information. If I show up on Jakku in a First Order cruiser..." she shook her head, "You'll only be making this harder for yourself."

Kylo stared at her for a moment, his expression unknown from the mask, "Alright."

Smiling, Gideon started towards her ship. It was a small for a freighter, and from the outside it looked like a mismatch of parts from different starships used to make repairs.

"This?" Her new travel companion said as they approached Gideon's ship, "This is a piece of junk."

The captain sighed, still engrossed in her ship as she boarded it. It was exactly how she left it, all of her belongings in tact and untouched. She turned to Kylo Ren with a small smile that couldn't be helped.

"Welcome to the Stargazer." Gideon placed her hands on her hips as she stood at the top of the boarding dock, "Would you like a tour?"

"No." Kylo simply brushed past her on his way in, "Let's go."

Gideon nodded, "Okay. Um... cockpit's this way."

She headed down the only hallway of the ship, where she lead her begrudging guest to where all the magic happened.

The front of the ship was where Gideon spent most of her time. It was mainly three large, connected rooms, two doors on either side of the back room that lead to her gunners, her storage hull, and the boarding dock.

The front room was the cockpit, where a single chair was perched in the dead center of the control panel. It was the smallest room of the three.

The back two rooms was more of a living space. One side of the room was a small cot built into the wall, just a thin mattress set on a metal bench accompanied by a pillow and blanket. Directly parallel of her cot was a bench and table installed into the wall and floor respectively.

At the foot of the cot was a trunk full of Gideon's belongings, above that a large work space littered with parts coming from things such as ships, droids, blasters, other machines. There was a swivel stool tucked just underneath the table, a toolbox on the ground next to it.

There was a bathroom, a few cabinets for rations and other resources, and a few of Gideon's more frequently used belongings scattered about the three rooms.

"Make yourself comfortable." Gideon said sarcastically as she took a seat at the pilot's chair, "I'll plot a course for our first stop."

Kylo Ren remained standing, "Which is?"

"Jakku." The Captain explained, "I trade with Unkar there every few months. I have some things he's really looking forward to purchasing... so he'll give us what we want."

"He knows the location of the Resistance Base?"

Gideon shook her head, "No, he doesn't. He knows Brandy Helm, who knows where it is. She's nearly impossibly to find on our own... and it won't be easy to coax her into giving us the information." She started up the engine and typed in the coordinates for Jakku, "She doesn't like me."

The captain piloted the ship out of the hangar, and then activated light speed. As soon as autopilot was initiated, she swiveled her chair around, arms folded as she stared at her travel companion.

"Why doesn't she like you?" He asked her, now seated at the bench a few feet behind the pilot's chair.

The woman sighed, tucking a strand of loose curly hair behind an ear. She figured that they had a bit until they reached Jakku, since it was practically on the other side of the galaxy.

"She runs a fight club on Hosnian Prime near the Industrial Sector." She explained, "I may or may not have ruined said fight club."

"If this is just going to be some messy fight of yours, Captain Oswald, I'll have to resort to other resources-"

"Listen." The woman interrupted, which earned a silent glare from the masked man (she couldn't see it, but she sure as hell felt it), "I know this is not how you do things. If you want this to work, if you want to find the location of the Resistance Base... then we have to do things my way."

She turned back around, kicking her feet up on the dashboard, watching hyperspace fly by in a peaceful hum.

The anger and annoyance was practically rolling off of Kylo Ren. He was pissed at her for running her mouth, but he didn't want to do anything rash while they were in hyperspace. Gideon slumped her shoulders, remembering the feeling of him strangling her with the Force.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, "I just... I know either way you're probably going to kill me, or lock me away. At the end of the day, you'll be getting what you want. Just let me have my fun, okay?"

There was a longer pause of silence. Gideon was certain that the man sitting behind her was thinking about shoving his lightsaber through her chest. In all honesty, she was convinced shoving lightsabers through people's chests was one of his favorite past times.

Then, he adjusted his position on the bench, letting out a long sigh.

"Alright."


	4. Coarse, Rough, and Irritating

They had been silent for about two hours now.

Two whole hours.

Gideon didn't know how long she could take another moment of silence. Sure, she was always the only one on the ship, but there was always some type of noise filling the empty silence of the ship. While traveling through hyperspace she'd either play music, work on whatever project she had started at her work bench, or even prepared and ate a meal at the table.

She was afraid to do all those things, because Kylo Ren did not seem like the type of person to enjoy the more alternative side of music that Gideon often played. She was also nervous to move from her spot at the pilot's chair, because she didn't know what he'd do if she happened to get up and try to do something else.

As another moment slowly ticked by, Gideon opened her mouth to speak, but found herself interrupted by her navicomputer notifying her of their short distance from Jakku.

"We're just about there." She called over her shoulder.

There was no reply. Gideon got up, stretching her legs. She needed to gather her trading goods for Unkar.

The woman could feel Kylo Ren's eyes on her as she packed the goods into a leather satchel. She felt awkward, like she'd get in trouble for leaving her seat, but continued to pack her bag in silence.

"What did you bring to trade?" He asked her, causing the woman to let out a sigh of relief from the broken silence, "Is it enough?"

She stood up again, closing the satchel securely, not wanting sand to get into her newly polished gadgets and goods she'd be trading with Unkar.

"Unkar has been after these parts for months." She explained, "The parts that the scavengers give him... they aren't as high-grade and new as these."

Gideon shed her jacket, hanging it on the back of her chair. From a hook to the left of the console she grabbed a shawl and some goggles.

"I'm guessing you're going to want to come with me?" She asked the First Order leader as she wrapped the shawl around herself. If covered her head, the lower half of her face, and her shoulders. The goggles she kept around her neck.

"Yes." Kylo said.

Gideon headed back to the cockpit just as the ship exited hyperspace. She sat down, piloting the ship carefully into the planet's atmosphere.

"You're going to have to take that mask off." She called, "And lose the uniform."

"No." He said, "That is not happening."

The woman sighed, running a hand down her face, "I'm sorry, but you can't just storm into Niima Outpost dressed as Kylo Ren with the First Order. Jakku is not a planet that likes politics, or the war."

After a moment of him simply ignoring her, Gideon nodded to her trunk, "There's a cloak in there, probably big enough for you. If you put it on, you can use it to cover your face, since you love to do that so much."

Gideon landed the ship between two sand dunes, which would keep the Stargazer hidden from scavengers during their trip to Niima Outpost. When she powered off the engine, she sat back, watching the dunes for a moment. Her hand aimlessly went towards the chord around neck, which was tucked carefully into her shirt. Attached to the chord was a small pendent her mother had given her when she was sixteen. It was a crystal of some sort, the girl didn't really know what kind.

"Are we going?" Kylo asked with an air of impatience. Gideon snapped out of her trance, picking up her leather satchel with a long sigh.

"Yeah, sorry." The woman pulled her goggles up around her eyes, "I just really hate sand."

When she turned to look at Kylo, she stopped dead in her tacks. He had taken off his helmet and outermost layers of his uniform. Gideon was puzzled and overall extremely surprised that he had given into taking off his uniform, even more so at his face.

He had dark hair that fell in curls around his face, with a pair of brooding dark eyes to match. His face was cold and calculative, but Gideon could see something behind his eyes that suggested he wasn't the dark and stormy First Order leader he was made out to be.

Gideon let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, keeping her expression even after seeing the face of the most feared man in the galaxy. She quickly checked her emotions as she headed to the door.

"I see you changed." She said simply as she grabbed her blaster that rested on her workbench on her way out, "Ready?"

The blaster was pulled from her hands. The pilot turned around to see Kylo Ren fixing it onto his belt as he followed her out the door.

"You won't be needing this." He said simply, pulling the hood of the cloak over his head.

Gideon scoffed, arms folded across her chest in annoyance, "Give it back. It's Jakku, there are thieves everywhere."

As they stepped out onto the sand, Gideon's unwanted travel companion just shrugged, "Your file says that you're a thief, too. I'm sure you can manage."

Jakku was a hot and unforgiving desert planet covered in unnecessary amounts of sand. The sun was high in the sky, sending a boiling heat onto the two travelers as they embarked on their walk to Niima Outpost. Gideon adjusted her shawl as a gust of gritty wind welcomed them, internally the galaxy for placing one of her most trusted trading allies on the worst planet in existence.

"Where are we going?" Kylo Ren demanded after a long while, turning to see Gideon's ship way in the distance. They had another few klicks to go before the outpost would reach their line of sight.

"Niima Outpost." The young woman explained, "I have a contact there, Unkar, who runs a trading gig. I've gotten the best supplies and even better information from him in the past."

"What makes him so reliable for this mission?" He asked her, "How can you be so sure he'll give you the information you're looking for?"

Letting out a long, impatient sigh, Gideon stopped walking. She turned to Kylo, her expression unreadable from her shawl and goggles covering her face. However, her voice gave away her thinning patience with the man.

"You need to trust me, okay?" Her voice was laced with annoyance, "First you take my blaster, then you call me a thief, and now you're questioning how I do my business. If I remember correctly, _you're_ the one who asked for _my_ help. Not the other way around."

Gideon could see the anger rise in Kylo's features that were tucked under his hood, the merciless demeanor make an appearance in his nearly black eyes. He reached out a hand, which took the captain's breath away.

"If _I_ remember correctly, Captain." He spat, " _You_ belong to the First Order now. I won't have you insulting us because you're not getting your way."

"I can just as easily trash this mission." The woman strained, "You won't get what you want-"

"You're forgetting how easily I can kill you." Kylo Ren let go of Gideon, who rubbed at her throat as she gasped in a few desperate breaths, "Let's move. We do not have a lot of time to waste."

Anger and fear building in her veins, Gideon said nothing as she lead the way towards Niima Outpost, quickening her pace despite the overbearing heat. As much as she wanted this mission to be done and over with, she needed to find a way to escape the First Order. Kylo Ren was right, she was in the hands of the First Order now. It would take a lot of work for her to escape.

And she needed to figure out how to do it quickly.   
  
  


* * *

When they reached town, Gideon was already longing to go back to the Stargazer, where she had plenty of water and air conditioning waiting for her. Her throat was aching and dry, her tongue like sandpaper in her mouth. Sweat beaded down the side of her face, which she wiped away with the end of her shawl.

However, they still needed to meet with Unkar, who was on wary terms with the captain ever since their last meeting a few months ago. She was also sure that if someone happened to recognize Kylo Ren, their mission would go sideways very quickly. Unkar was her only lead to Brandy Helm, who was the only person she trusted who could give her the location of the new Resistance HQ.

"This way." Gideon nodded to the center of town, her voice quiet and hoarse from their trek through the startling heat.

Kylo Ren followed the captain to the center outpost, where Unkar was trading with the residents of Jakku for rations of food. He wasn't very generous when he traded with them, keeping the majority of the rations that came in for himself and those close to him. Gideon joined the end of the line, moving her satchel to her other shoulder when the weight started to ache.

"What's wrong with your shoulder?" Kylo asked, his voice hiding his usual demanding tone.

The captain looked to her left shoulder, which was previously carrying the satchel of goods for Unkar.

"I was stabbed." Gideon explained quietly with a shrug, "Spear went completely through."

Her shoulder had a mess of scar tissue, which was white and raised after a year or two of fully healing. She didn't have a full range of motion in her shoulder anymore due to how hard it was for the wound to fully heal.

"What happened?" Her travel companion asked, pestering her further for information that Gideon found pointless at the moment.

"We're next." Gideon ignored his question, "Let me do the talking."

Walking up to the outpost, Gideon removed her goggles and shawl so that Unkar could see her face. She offered a friendly, yet slightly arrogant smile that she gave most of her business partners.

"Unkar, it's been a while, hasn't it?" She asked, giving the trader raised brows.

"Oswald!" Unkar laughed, "I am surprised you haven't gotten yourself killed yet." 

Gideon could feel Kylo's stare, but she continued her friendly and slightly cocky antics, "I am just as surprised as you are, especially these days."

Unkar saw the satchel the captain carried, his beady eyes narrowing his greed and delight, "What can I do for you?"

Flashing one of the more valuable items she had brought for him, Gideon nodded towards the back, "Perhaps we can discuss this somewhere where nobody will overhear us?"

Looking at the line of scavengers behind her, Unkar nodded. He called for someone to take over in the back, muttering something about how many rations he planned to distribute today. Then, he turned back to Gideon with a coy smile.

"Come in the back." He shot a look to Kylo, who stood right at Gideon's shoulder, "Alone."

Kylo Ren opened his mouth to protest, but Gideon shot him a dirty look as she headed around the back of the outpost. She shook her head at him, her eyes pleading for him to trust her, just this once.

"Please." She whispered to him sharply, to which he nodded in reply, his watchful, dark eyes following the captain as she entered the back of the outpost.

The inside of Unkar's shack was actually quite sad. Despite the small amounts of rations he handed out to the scavengers, he really did have enough food to feed everybody on Jakku comfortably, piled just out of sight from the townspeople. He was greedy and ruthless, and Gideon experienced that firsthand a few years ago when she was desperate for a meal herself.

"I am surprised to see you. Last time we met you almost made an enemy of me." Unkar mused as Gideon set down her satchel.

"I've come to trade with you." Gideon unloaded a few of her items, "You can't be opposed to that, now can you?"

"That depends what you've brought me." Unkar shrugged, "My prices have changed since last time."

Gideon smiled as she unloaded the last of her items, which were cleaned and polished to look brand new. She was going to bring these items to Ryloth to sell for some credits and a place to stay for a week or two, but with the First Order quite literally breathing down her neck, her plans have changed.

"Well, I think you'll appreciate what I'm offering." She let Unkar's beady eyes marvel at the items she laid in front of him, "I need my usual order and some information."

"The information is going to cost you extra." The trader warned Gideon.

Reaching into the pocket of her cargo pants, Gideon pulled out about a five pound rock of rare mineral. Unkar couldn't contain his giddy laughter, eyeing the item, his fingers twitching with glee.

"Jedhadite is hard to come by these days." Gideon explained with a smirk, "Nearly got skinned getting this, but I suppose you'll have a better use for it than I will... That is, if you can give me the information I need."

Unkar took a step closer to Gideon, his eyes not leaving the rock of rare and expensive mineral she clutched in her hands. She knew he would not be able to resist this find.

"What do you need to know?" He asked.

"I need to know the location of Brandy Helm." She explained, "She's been... difficult to track these days."

Unkar let out a dry laugh, "Brandy Helm? Nobody knows where she is."

Gideon furrowed her brows, lowering the rock away from his line of sight, "I guess you won't be needing this-" 

"Okay, fine." The trader sighed, "She's at Hosnian Prime to close a few deals."

"And how do I know you're telling me the truth, Unkar?" Gideon asked, "I really can't be put on a wild goose-chase right now."

"Trust me." Unkar rolled his eyes, "I had to send three crates of supplies over to her the other day. Helm really knows how to empty one's pockets."

Gideon nodded, "Do you know where on Hosnian Prime? Perhaps you could provide the address?"

Unkar sighed irritably, "You're asking for too much, Oswald. I really need to get back to work."

The captain nodded, flourishing the rock of jedhadite back into his line of vision, "I'm sorry, Unkar, but I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't extremely important."

"Is this about that person you came here with?" Unkar asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, "You've never had company before."

The woman ran a hand down her face, wiping away the sweat on her forehead with her shawl. She looked back up at Unkar, her eyes embedded with fatigue.

"I'm not happy about it." She sighed, "But I've made a deal with someone that I can't exactly go back on, now. So, where's Helm running her operations?"

Unkar read the woman's tired and resigned expression, partially masked by her confident smirk she always carried when dealing with business. He let out a long sigh, his eyes trailing back to the ever-valuable jedhadite he wanted so desperately.

"The Industrial Sector. She's stationed in the old R-50 hangar under the bar."

Gideon tensed a bit at the name of Helm's location, holding back a dry laugh. The location of her old adversary was so cliche it was almost funny. Of course she'd be running the fight club again at a time like this, where people were desperate for an escape from the current politics.

"Thank you, Unkar." Gideon slid her satchel over to him, "Where can I pick up the rest of my order?"

The trader nodded towards the door, "I'll have Piko bring it out for you and your... companion."

The woman tied up her shawl again, bringing her goggles up to shield her eyes from the sand. Just as she turned to go, Unkar called out to her.

"Oswald." He nodded to the door, where Kylo Ren was most certainly waiting outside for her, "I'd hate to see you dead because you trusted the wrong person."

Gideon hid the bitterness and fear rising up her throat with a small smile, "Me too."


	5. Forced Bonding

"Did you get it?" Kylo Ren asked the captain as soon as she exited Unkar's shack.

As she finished wrapping her shawl around her face, the woman nodded, "Yes, I got the location. I'm just waiting on an order to be brought out."

The First Order leader stiffened, "We aren't hear for any other business affairs you have going on."

"Relax, it's just a couple of items I need for our next stop." Gideon explained, "Getting to Helm will not be easy, but getting away will be even harder. I need to make a ramifications to the ship in case a fight breaks out."

Piko, Unkar's right hand man, brought out a small bag of supplies to Gideon. She tipped him with a five-credit voucher, slinging the bag over her bad shoulder with a grimace.

"See? Took barely a minute." She grinned sarcastically as she led the way back to the Stargazer. The sun, though just past midday, was still beating down on them, emitting a sweltering heat that made the thirty-minute walk especially undesirable.

"Where is Helm's location?" Kylo asked the woman, eyeing her as she adjusted her grip on the heavy bag.

"Hosnian Prime, Industrial Sector." Gideon shook her head in disbelief, "I can't believe she'd even go back to that stupid place."

Kylo shot the woman a look, his dark eyes asking her to continue.

"She runs a galaxy-wide fight club. The last time she was on Hosnian Prime was when I ruined the whole operation, and since then it was nearly impossible to find her." Gideon sighed, "Unkar told me he sent over a shipment of supplies recently. She must be reestablishing the club there." 

"How is a criminal going to tell us the location of the Resistance Headquarters?" Kylo Ren asked the woman, using part of his hood to wipe the sweat from the side of his face.

"Brandy Helm knows just about everything about the galaxy. She has these data chips she wears around her neck with all of her intel. We get those chips, we get the location of the base." Gideon shrugged, "Simple."

She stopped for a moment, her shoulder aching from taking the weight of the bag. Gideon looked up at the sky, letting out a small fatigued huff, blowing a curl away from her face. As she went to adjust the bag higher onto her shoulder, Kylo Ren held out his hand.

"Let me." He said, "You're tired."

Gideon locked eyes with him for a moment, her brows furrowed at his sudden act of kindness (if that's what she could call it). Slowly she handed him the bag, relieved from the weight of it on her shoulders. As she walked beside him, scanning the horizon for the Stargazer, she rubbed her cramped shoulder with a callused hand.

"Thanks." She nodded at him with a kind of mutual appreciation. Kylo returned it with a roll of his dark eyes, shouldering the bag with ease.

"You were slowing us down." He shrugged off their small moment, where for the tiniest second they didn't despise each other, "The sooner we get to your ship, the sooner we get out of the heat."

Gideon shook her head, "You couldn't just help a girl out from the goodness of your heart?"

"No."

"Okay, then."   
  
  


* * *

It was a relief for both Kylo Ren and Gideon to get out of the sweltering heat of Jakku's sandy deserts. As Gideon pulled the ship off the ground, she cranked up the air conditioner, relieved to be out of the sun.

After she popped in the coordinates of Hosnian Prime and put the ship into hyperdrive, she spun her chair around, letting out a refreshed sign as cold air blew on her sweaty forehead.

"I really hate that place." She muttered, "Unkar better find a better place to deal soon, or he's going to lose my business."

Her companion, as usual, was silent. Gideon just shook her head at his quiet, getting up to hydrate herself before their next stop. From a small cabinet in the wall, she pulled out a large canteen of water, followed by two tin cups.

"Here." She poured him a cup and slid it across the table to him. Kylo caught it, his hands bare from their usual black leather gloves. He must have taken them off so he could cool off.

As Gideon refreshed herself with her cup of water, she walked over to her workbench, where the goods Unkar had supplied her with were still secured in their bag. Carefully she started to unload her order, inspecting each piece with caution.

"Thank you."

Her lips parted in surprise, her hands nearly dropping the oil pan she was studying. Slowly, she turned around to face Kylo Ren, who was staring at the captain with an expression she couldn't quite understand.

"You see how nice it is when someone does something for you out of the goodness of their heart?" Gideon asked, a triumphant smile playing on her lips.

"Do you have to be so condescending?" The First Order leader sassed back to the captain.

Gideon turned back to her workbench, sorting out the parts she had gotten from Unkar. As she slid on her tool belt and tucked the pieces she needed under her belt, she offered a slightly over dramatic bow of her head. 

"You're welcome." 

The captain got back to work, sliding under the front control panel of the Stargazer, unscrewing the main panel to reveal a maze of circuits, engine parts, and computer pieces that led controlled all of the other aspects of her small XSR-50 Freighter. She put her goggles up over her face to protect her eyes from any sparks, spills, or mishaps that could happen. After all, she was doing some major ramifications to the ship in such a small span of time.

She worked silently, her foot tapping to a tune she hummed quietly to herself, not wanting to bother her extremely temperamental guest. Gideon preferred working on the ship over trying to occupy Kylo, because she knew her ship wouldn't try to kill her... intentionally. She'd been living on the Stargazer for a few years now, and honestly trusted the ship more than most of the people she's known in her lifetime.

Gideon was like that with ships and machines. She preferred the company of droids to people, mostly because she understood them more. Machines hardly let the woman down, while people let her down most of the time.

The woman had been on her own for about seven years, running away from home just a few weeks after her eighteenth birthday. She stayed at a few different systems at first, but after getting into trouble a few times with some not so nice people, she decided traveling was as good as it was going to get for her.

After a moment or two of complete obliviousness, Gideon felt Kylo Ren's stare on her. Immediately she knew what he was trying to do, because for the last ten minutes her mind kept zoning out, despite being completely engrossed in her work. However, Gideon was not an idiot when it came to Jedi mind tricks. She was able to sense when the Force was being used on her, especially to penetrate her mind.

"Stop." Gideon put down her tools, scooting forward so she could sit up properly without hitting her head, "I know what you're trying to do."

Kylo was perplexed, leaning back against the bench as he studied the woman carefully, "You've closed your mind off to the Force... why?"

"So people like you don't go reading my mind like a complete psychopath." She rolled her eyes, "If you want to know something about me, just ask."

"How can you do that?" He asked, "Close off your mind?"

"I don't know." Gideon wiped her greasy hands on a towel clipped to her tool belt, "I felt you trying to get into my mind... so I just didn't let you."

The man in front of her seemed curious, almost impressed with her. He fiddled with the hilt of his lightsaber, a habit he had that Gideon picked up on. She wondered why he was so interested in her sensitivity to the Force. Lots of people had it, it just wasn't something that was seen as special anymore. All the Jedi were gone, so the practice had disappeared.

"Have you always traveled alone?" He asked suddenly, to which Gideon realized was the one thing he probably got from her mind before she was able to detect it.

"Yeah." She shrugged, shooting him a suspicious look for asking the question, "I've been pretty much on my own since I was eighteen."

"What happened?"

"My mother and I... we butt heads a lot. She wanted the best for me, but she was too caught up with work to really distinguish the difference between my future and everyone else's." Gideon said slowly, keeping her eyes focused on her lap, "I had enough of it, so I left."

She squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze, "Does that answer your question?"

Kylo shrugged. She could tell there was something he wanted to say to her, but for some reason he was holding back. Ever since they started this mission Gideon has gotten the feeling that there was something about him that just didn't add up. However evil and merciless he presented himself to be, there was a side to him that was human.

"Do I get to ask a question now?" The captain asked, "It's only fair."

The First Order leader tensed visibly in front of her, throwing up his guard. He looked to Gideon, his dark eyes shielding an emotion she couldn't understand. What was he hiding?

"Depends on the question." He decided to reply with, as if he was dipping a toe in to test the waters.

Gideon took a minute to devise a question she was sure that Kylo would answer. She leaned back against the console, pulling onto her lap a circuit board she was refurbishing. As she worked, the question she needed popped into her mind.

"Why did you come with me?" She asked, "Why just you? Why not send anyone else?"

"That's three questions." Kylo warned, but seemed okay with all of them. He was quiet for a long time, watching Gideon be perfectly content in her work, expertly rewiring the circuit board into the console once she was done. He had to admit, it was a lot easier for him to talk when she was laying under the console and not staring at him.

"We needed a new approach to find the Resistance." He explained, "I believe that you could help us do that. However, we couldn't just trust you to do it alone. Hux suggested we used a spy, but I decided to go instead. I wanted to make sure this was done right."

"Yeah, but why did you want to come with me?" Gideon asked again, "I know it's not because of my charming personality."

"Of course not." Even though she couldn't see his face, she could hear the hint of a smile in his voice, "I was curious about you. It's not everyday we see a woman with a record like yours who isn't part of the Resistance."

Gideon replaced the main panel, securing it with bolts and screws. As she slid out from under the console, there was a small smile tugging at her usually determined and serious face. However friendly the smile seemed to be, there was a hint of sadness behind it, hidden in her eyes like a ghost of a memory.

The captain was lost in thought for a moment, her smile fading as she zoned out. Her face filled with that sense of melancholy, reminiscing of a time that Kylo Ren couldn't figure out, even if he tried to access her mind. She looked sad, even, hopeless as she thought of what was in store for her after they found the location of the Resistance Headquarters. Even if she and Kylo were getting along now, he could turn on her in an instant. Once he got what he'd wanted, he'd throw her in a cell, or even kill her.

The ship beeped to alert the passengers that they were coming out of hyperspace. Gideon snapped out of her thoughts, getting to her feet to pilot the ship the rest of the way.

"Look at us, bonding." She was glad Kylo Ren couldn't see her face as she sat down in her pilot's chair. Her eyes were glassy, her face hardened as it masked her sadness with a forced confidence, "Like two peas in a pod."

Standing just behind her chair, her travel companion looked out the front windshield at the famous planet the Hosnian Prime.

"I've always hated this place." He said darkly.

A short, dry laugh escaped Gideon's lips as she mimicked Kylo's glare at the planet-wide city. She followed the outer-atmosphere traffic to the Industrial Sector, where they'd be docking the ship and continuing on with their mission.

"I'm glad we can finally agree on something." Was her quiet reply.


	6. Everybody Hates Gideon

The Industrial Sector had its perks and downsides. While it was responsible for most of the Deep and Outer Core's goods in machinery, it was also home to some of the most shady dealings in the galaxy.

Gideon and Kylo Ren were heading right towards one of them.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" He asked the woman, who was using her shawl to keep her face hidden from anybody who might recognize her.

"I'm sure." She nodded to a run down apartment complex, "I used to live there. Hangar's about eight blocks west of here."

The woman walked quickly through the streets of the Industrial Sector, her companion following close behind. Her hands were clammy with nerves, not knowing what was going to happen once they found Brandy. How were they going to get those data chips?

"Could you at least let me have my blaster?" She asked the man again, turning to give him a nagging look, "Things won't be pretty when we get there, and I don't want to rely on you to cover my ass."

Kylo sighed, unclipping the blaster from his belt, handing it to the captain. Gideon smiled triumphantly, sliding it into its holster right at her side. She felt a tad more confident knowing she could defend herself.

"You're worried." He noted, giving a cautious look behind him as they crossed the street, "What for?"

"Well, it's Brandy Helm." Gideon shrugged, "She is the most feared con artist and mob boss in the galaxy. She runs a tight ship. Last time I saw her she tried to kill me."

"It seems that everyone we plan on running into wants to kill you." Kylo mused.

"Yeah, let's just assume that everybody we see in this neighborhood wants me dead." Gideon sighed irritably, "As much as I talk crap about these people for being shady... I've had my fair hand of shadiness."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"You said it yourself, I'm good at what I do."

Gideon pulled Kylo into an abandoned alleyway, where they ducked behind a few abandoned speeders, completely out of operation. She looked around, her eyes scanning for anything familiar. One hand rested on her blaster as a masked group passed them.

"Why did you get into this life, anyways?" Kylo asked her, disregarding the woman's urge for stealth. She reached up, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him down so that they were crouched behind the junked speeders.

"Really, you're asking me this now?" Gideon shot a look to him, her voice a harsh whisper. The First Order leader nodded. He wanted to know.

"Yes."

"I was eighteen living in a junked one-room apartment. I was starving, and there was no way for me to make enough money to feed myself." She explained, "Let's just say I was offered a quick way to make enough money that my hungry teenage self could not resist."

Gideon tugged on his shoulder, pulling him deeper into the alleyway. She said nothing as she pulled up a trapdoor hidden among the garbage. After checking to see if the coast was clear, she started to climb down.

Everything was just as she remembered. The stench of sweat, blood, alcohol and smoke, the chipped paint and worn floors. Everything was smudged with grease and dirt, a plethora of blood splotches everywhere from a number of different species.

As she and Kylo walked down the quiet hallway, they could hear movement and talking coming from below, where the main hangar was located. Gideon was tensely quiet as she lead her companion through the dimly lit hallways, her blaster up and ready to fire if they were attacked.

She had a lot of good and bad memories in this place, remembering how she earned her money here. While at the time she felt that it wasn't a big deal, that she was just supporting herself... now she realized what sort of crowd she was brought into.

Carefully they turned a corner, heading down another flight of stairs. Both Gideon and Kylo saw no one following them, but the captain had an itching feeling that they were being watched. She was growing more and more nervous the further they ventured down towards the hangar.

"Did it occur to you we're probably walking into a trap?" Kylo Ren asked the woman, "Are you that stupid?"

Gideon shot the man a look, "I'm not stupid. This is what Brandy wants."

She turned around to see two familiar faces smiling sinisterly back at her. Her stomach churned in uneasiness and fear, a pit of anger forming in her stomach.

"Isn't this a lovely surprise?"

They were surrounded now, the rest of Brandy Helm's muscle were strangers to Gideon. However, she was too familiar with the two people slowly stalking towards her.

Marci and Grey.

Gideon had worked for Marci for a while, too, not knowing that the woman also worked for Helm on the side. Grey was Marci's partner, the more intimidating of the pair.

"I'm surprised to see you here." Gideon noted, studying Marci keenly, "You're still here working for Helm?"

Marci was about twenty years older than Gideon. Her skin was as dark as ebony with white and black tattoos trailing across her face in intricate designs. Each of her eyes were different jewel tones, giving her an ethereal and crazed look, bearing into Gideon like she was the catch of the days

"You have some nerve showing your face on this planet, Oswald." Marci clicked her tongue, "You have a price on your head, here."

"I'm here to see Helm." Gideon said, "I assume she knows that, already. Unkar isn't good with keeping secrets."

Marci grinned, showing a smile filled with gold tooth replacements, a way for her to show off her wealth. Gold was hard to come by these days.

"Who's the hunk of freighter you brought with you?" Marci asked, nodding to Kylo.

"Eden." The captain responded coolly, "He's a friend."

Marci did a lap around the two, studying them with her jewel toned eyes. Then, she snapped her fingers, causing two guards for both Gideon and Kylo to search and restrain them. The captain watched as her blaster was taken away, her extra feeling of security gone. Roughly her hands tightly cuffed behind her back.

Gideon cautiously looked to Kylo Ren, who still had his lightsaber on him. He looked at one of the guards trying to get it from him, whispering something to the masked assailant. The lightsaber was left alone, to which its owner tucked into the pocket of his trousers, hidden from sight.

He gave a nod to Gideon, allowing the other guard to cuff his hands behind his back.

"Let's go." Marci chuckled, leading the way towards the hangar. Grey followed closely behind, sliding almost excited looks to the captured captain cuffed behind him.

The hangar was just as Gideon imagined it would be. The scent of sweat and blood grew stronger, almost nauseating to the woman now. She looked around at the large open room with a sense of discomfort.

There were a few sponsors having drinks in the corner, eyeing Gideon and Kylo as they were shoved into the room. Sitting just behind the center circle, a perfect ring drawn in deep red, was the woman herself.

Brandy Helm was one of the most intimidating people Gideon had ever met. She was tall and athletic, one of her eyes glazed over with scar tissue, blinding her in one eye. She was bald, several tattoos and implanted jewels covering her smooth, dark scalp. She wore her usual all leather attire, lounging comfortably back in a chair as she chatting amicably with one of her sponsored fighters.

"Gideon." Brandy called in a sour, low voice. She glared at the young captain, though kept her usual 'know-it-all' smile on her face. She casually sipped a martini, her hands playing with the toothpick carrying a berry that sat in the half full glass.

"Brandy Helm." Gideon was shoved into the center of the ring, her companion pushed as Grey gave him a shove with his blaster brandished on his belt, "I've come to inquire about some information you have."

Brandy laughed, the liquid in her drink nearly spilling over the edge if the glass, "You've come to me for something you want? That's just precious, child."

The guards that brought her in, including Marci and Grey, laughed at Gideon. Her cheeks reddened in anger, hands clutched into tight fists behind her back.

"I'm assuming Unksr contacted you." Gideon let out a disappointed sigh, "I really hate that guy, sometimes."

"Unkar told me that you've been trying to find me." Brandy explained, "I just don't know what for."

"I need some information." Gideon asked, "About where the Resistance base is located.

"And what makes you think I have that kind of information? That's not easy territory to deal with." Brandy took a long sip of her martini, "You think I have that kind of information on me?"

Gideon nodded, "Actually, yeah. I'm pretty sure you do."

Brandy Helm narrowed her eyes at the captain, obviously knowing that this was going to get a little messier than she thought it would be.

"You've become a pain in my side." She groaned, "Always stealing, always getting into trouble. I put a price on your head just to run you out of here so I can go back to my usual business."

"Really, how much?" Gideon asked with a sarcastic smirk, watching the woman grow annoyed in front of her. She looked at Kylo from the corner of her eye, who was stiff, his expression even as he observed the scene playing out in front of him.

"You were one of my money makers, you know that?" Brandy asked as she finished he martini, "The underdog who somehow was able to beat one of the biggest fighters in the game. Then you go and run off with some pilot and burn my place to the ground."

"Well, I'm not sorry about that. However, I'm willing to make it up to you." Gideon proposed, "If you give me in the information I need, you'll never see or hear from me ever again. That's a promise."

Helm got to her feet, towering over the captain as she circled her. She studied Gideon for a moment, the changes in her appearance since she last saw her. The woman was well aware of her injury in her shoulder, impairing the woman from her full fighting potential. Brandy shot her good eye up to Marci and Grey, who nodded. They'd been planning this ever since they got word from Unkar.

"Okay." Brandy nodded smartly, "That sounds like a plan."

The cuffs were taken off of Gideon's wrists, and Kylo was escorted out of the center ring. The ring in the circle looked new, painted with a deep red that was either paint or blood. Or both.

The woman looked up at Helm as the woman sat back in her chair, which was now moved off to the side. The spectators were passing bets around, whispering among themselves, sending looks at Gideon like she the last piece of meat at the market.

Then she froze, her stomach churning. She knew what sort of crap she just walked into again. One last time for Brandy Helm to make money off of her.

"I'll give you the information." Helm smirked, "You just have to win."

The crowd that had gathered, around twenty people, grew excited. Gideon sent a look to Kylo Ren, who was giving her a curious, almost perplexed look. He was shoved in the back by Brandy, two blasters trained on him.

Gideon shed her jacket and shawl, dropping it by Kylo and Brandy's side of the ring. Her hands were clammy and shaking from nerves, but she shook them out, clamping them into fists. She looked around to see who her opponent might be.

Grey stepped into the ring, shedding his weapons and jacket. He was large and squat, with purple toned skin and completely jacked. His faced was smushed and scarred from years of fighting and dirty work. He used to be Helm's champion before he joined Marci.

"You'll be fighting Grey, here." Brandy called over the bustling conversations, "There will be one round, no timer. To win one must have the other dead."

The captain nodded, hiding the fear on her face by hardening her stare. She sent a look to Kylo again, who raised his brows at her.

_I have a plan_. He mouthed to her, his eyes studying the necklace around Brandy's neck, adorned with dozens of data chips. Gideon nodded, understanding what he was going to do.

While she fought, he was going to get the necklace. Hopefully Gideon would still be alive by the time the fight was over, and they'd escape back to her ship.

The bell rung for the fight to begin. Gideon turned to face Grey, flexing her fingers as they circled each other. Her opponent was staring at the scar tissue visible on her shoulder, smiling determinedly as he pounced.

He made swift contact with Gideon, tackling her from her left side. She tried to fend him off, but she wasn't as strong in her left arm anymore, she couldn't move it the way she used to. The woman was on the ground, earning a few nasty punches to the abdomen.

Gideon groaned, the sharp blows knocking the air out of her. The pain radiated up and down her side, her right arm pinned and useless while her left fists tried to fight him off.

Then, she saw an opportunity.

The woman kicked up her legs, kneeing Grey in the small of his back. His grip loosened on her arm, allowing Gideon to twist it free. She pushed him back, swinging her legs up around his neck, pinning him to the ground.

As she pulled herself forward, her abdomen stung in sharp pains, causing her to grimace as she pulled herself on top of Grey. Swinging her legs off of him and pinning him, she slammed her fists into his face, knowing that the quickest way to get rid of him would be to impair his vision, make him sloppy.

Grey caught one of Gideon's fists, somehow able to unpin his arm from her hold. He twisted it back, causing the woman to yell out, giving into his next move.

She felt a swift punch to the face, her head snapping back, her eyes watering. She was thrown back with a kick to the stomach, causing her to fall to the ground, dazed and tense with pain.

Grey got up, standing over the woman with a toothless smile. His nose was bleeding, and one of his eyes was red and irritated, slowing swelling closed. However, he didn't seem to be affected by any of the blows Gideon was able to inflict on him.

"You're going down, kid." He spat, cracking his knuckles, "Once and for all."

He pounced like a large cat. Just in time Gideon was able to squirm out from under him, staggering to her feet. She wiped the blood from her face with the hem of her shirt, shaking out her stained knuckles.

"I won't go down that easy." She breathed, her voice strained from the pain in her side, panting to catch her breath. She wasn't at the top of her game like she was seven years ago, but she learned a few tricks since then.

Gideon struck first this time, lobbing her fist around, slamming the back of her hand into the side of Grey's face. His head swung to the side, and he stumbled. The captain ignored the throbbing in her knuckles, kicking her foot up and nailing the exposed side of his face.

Grey stumbled back, falling to the ground. Gideon regained her balance, bouncing on her heels to try and keep her energy up. Both fighters were growing tired and irritated. The fight would be over soon, it was obvious. One of them was going to be dead.

And Gideon really hoped it wouldn't be her.

As her opponent got to his feet, Gideon wiped the sweat from her face, thinking quickly of her next move. Took a few steps back, her joints sore and aching from the fight.

Grey let out a loud, angry roar- sounding like an animal. He expertly charged at Gideon, body slamming her back a few steps. As soon as she recovered, she was met with another swift, cracking hit to the face.

Stars came into her vision, the room spinning. Gideon spit blood to the side, the vile, coppery taste unwelcome on her tongue. She shook her head, blinking a few times as she blocked Grey's neck blow with her forearms.

Grey grabbed ahold of one of Gideon's forearms. With an expert move, he twisted around and threw her across the ring, using his back as leverage. Gideon was slammed harshly into the ground, unable to breathe, her head spinning and stomach twisting with nausea. She say Grey's blurry figure pin her down, slamming his fists onto her over and over again.

The crowd was screaming in joy, the smell of smokes and alcohol growing thicker in the room as excitement ensued. Gideon groaned, feeling the sharp blows of Grey's hits, but not really aware of anything else.

Then, when his two massive hands, coated in her blood, were wrapped around her throat, Gideon knew that she needed to do something.

She gasped for air, eyes widening from the pressure around her throat. Her entire body was sore and exhausted, feeling disconnected and numb from the rest of her. She looked up, seeing Grey's beady eyes staring excitedly down at her as he swiftly tried to choke the life out of her.

Her eyes went to Kylo, looking for some sort of help, but she couldn't find him. She didn't know if it was because of how disoriented she was, or if he had gotten the necklace and left her to die.

Gideon was pretty sure it was the latter, which caused a newfound anger to course through her veins. She looked to Grey again, her dark eyes shooting daggers at him. Gideon reached up both arms, scratching at Grey's face, not caring if her fingers were clawing into his eye sockets. She just wanted to breathe again.

Grey howled in pain, his hands going up to his eyes. Blood trailed down his face like tears as he looked around blindly, unable to see where Gideon crawled away to.

The woman coughed, shaky arms holding herself upright. She wiped at her face again, spitting blood to the side, huffing in a few gasps of air before staggering to her feet.

She was hunched over, her knuckles swollen and split, her fingertips red with Grey's blood. Her face was a bruised and blood mess, sweat mixing with the red and dripping down the sides of her face.

Just as she turned to Grey, wanting to finish him off, there was some sort of commotion in the crowd. Everyone yelled, and over all of the chaotic voices in many different tongues, Brandy's voice raised above them all.

"You cheat!" Brandy shouted at Gideon, "This was all a distraction!"

Her necklace was gone. In the distraction Marci dragged Grey off the ring. Gideon, who was breathing heavy, stared at Brandy in an air of fake disbelief.

"What?" She shook her head, "No, I-"

"Then where is your friend?" Helm asked, "Don't think I know a fallen Jedi when I see one, child."

Gideon looked around, Kylo nowhere in sight. Did he really just take the chips and abandon her? Was he going to steal her ship as well? The woman shook her head, her fists tightening, she turned to Brandy with eyes like venom.

"Whether he left or not, you deserved this anyways, Helm." Gideon spat, wincing from the soreness in her torso, "You used me for months. Now I used you. How does that feel?"

Helm glared at the child, which caused Gideon to spread her bloody lips into a smile.

"Stings a bit, doesn't it?"

"Kill her!"

Gideon ducked moving quickly out of the ring to avoid the blaster shots of the armed sponsors and guards. She felt their heat pass her closely, but the woman moved quickly, shoving harshly through the crowd.

As she left the hangar, scratching and clawing her way out of there, she fought off angry tears. She was pissed, frustrated, confused. She and Kylo were starting to get along, why would he just leave her like that?

As she turned the corner, however, she caught a glimpse of a blood red lightsaber, cracking with power. Gideon slowed down her run, clutching her side as she gasped for breath.

"About damn time." She wheezed, "Where the hell have you been?"

Kylo got in front of Gideon, blocking blaster shots with his lightsaber, allowing the woman to climb up the ladder that led to the alleyway.

He shrugged, "I was pulling the ship around, let's go."


	7. Unlikeliest of Teams

"How'd you even get the ship over here?" Gideon stumbled into the ship, holding the side of her abdomen, "I swear if you scratched her-"

"I know how to fly a freighter." Kylo shut the door behind him, heading straight for the pilot's chair, "I'm not an idiot."

"Are the shields up?" Gideon asked, "I just-"

"Already up." He raised the ship into the air, flying it swiftly out of the cramped alleyway. Gideon was surprised at how agile and expertly he piloted the ship, watching him with a sense of amazement, "Can you work the gunners?"

Gideon nodded, "Yeah. I can do that."

She limped over to the back, where the gunners lowered to the bottom center of the ship. Climbing into the seat, she immediately saw the small fighter ships and old T-20's chasing after them.

Working the controls, she spun the gunners around, aiming at the rogue star fighters chasing after them. Gideon shot a couple rounds of blaster fire, clipping one of the ship's wings. It spiraled downwards, taking one of the ship's down with them.

"I have two down!" The captain called, "How are we doing up there?"

"Fine." Kylo called back as the ship shuddered, taking a few hits from the left side, "Just do your job, okay?"

"Yeah, alright." The woman sighed, her eyes narrowed and focused as she spun the gunners around, trying to get a good shot at the star fighters attacking them. The Stargazer took a few more hits, but remained steady as Kylo Ren maneuvered around the New Republic's traffic.

Steadily she closed her aim in on a ship to her left, sending a round of fire at them until she saw the satisfying burst of explosion. She smiled, spinning herself around to aim at another target.

"I can't get a good eye on the one to our left." Gideon called, "Can you-"

Kylo spun the ship around, tilting it upside down so Gideon had a better angle of their main attacker. They were a bigger ship, with lots more firepower. The ship shuddered again as it was hit, losing a bit of stability.

"Main shields have been hit." Kylo called, "We need to get out of here."

Gideon fired a few times at the ship, but lost her aim when Kylo re-oriented the Stargazer. The woman swore under her breath, trying to keep her head from smacking into the wall.

"Well I can't get rid of them with you pulling shit like that!" Gideon called, "Where'd you learn that, Smolder Academy?"

"Shut up." She heard the annoyance in his voice, which caused a sharp laugh to escape from Gideon's lips.

"The stabilizer's taking critical hits." He interrupted the captain's temporary burst of laughter, "We don't have all day, Oswald."

"I know, give me a sec." she spun around, aiming at the hull of their pursuer, right where she believed the fuel cells to be, "Turn us forty-five degrees to the right."

"What?" Kylo scoffed, "The ship can't handle that kind of-"

"With all due respect, Mr. Know It All, this is my ship." Gideon called back, "I know what she can handle. Just do it."

There was a moment of hesitation, and then the ship reluctantly rolled forty-five degrees onto the right side. Gideon smirked, getting perfect aim at the most vulnerable part of their last attacker. She fired one lucky shot, watching tensely as it soared through the air.

The ship exploded once it hits its mark. They were home free.

Gideon sorely climbed out of the gunners, holding onto the wall to keep her balance as the ship continued to shutter and shake from the damage it took. When she got to the front cockpit to join Kylo, she let out a sigh.

"Well that went well." She grimaced, grabbing her tools from the workbench, "What's the damage?"

"Stabilizer's taken a critical hit." He explained, "If we jump into hyperspace the ship won't hold its integrity."

Gideon nodded, "Yes, she will."

He sent her a glare, "Are you trying to get us killed, Oswald."

The woman pinched the cut bridge of her nose, wincing from the pounding of her head, "No. Just get us far away from here before Helm sends a entire fleet after us. I can fix the stabilizer as we go."

She moved to the side control panel, which was hissing and sparking from the damage. However, the pain and soreness from her fight earlier increased. Gideon was met with a wave of dizziness, her abdomen screaming in pain. As she took a step forward, she nearly fell into the wall.

"You're hurt." He observed, getting to his feet. As he went to help the woman, she waved him off bitterly, shaking her head.

"No. I'm fine." She winced, slowly easing herself over to the panel, "Just put up the front shields. Type in some coordinates."

The pain was evident in her face, but she fought to keep upright, removing the metal panel with bruised knuckles. Sparks flew into her face as soon as she put it down, but got to work with grit teeth.

"Oswald, I won't have you jeopardize this mission." Kylo reached his hand out, using the Force to bring Gideon's tools to him, "Pilot the ship. I'll fix the stabilizers."

The woman stared at Kylo for a moment, her dark eyes meeting his. It was the first time she actually trusted him, his concerned features genuine. Gideon sighed, nearly falling to her knees as she pushed off from the wall. Kylo gripped her arm, catching her as she nearly tumbled to the ground.

After easing herself into the pilot's chair, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. The hand that she had tightly wrapped around her torso came back spotted with red, causing her head to spin with dizziness, her stomach to twist with nausea.

"We need to hide out somewhere so we can process the data chips and find the base's location." Gideon explained breathlessly, typing into the navicomputer, "I'm taking us to the Outer Rim. Helm won't follow us there."

Kylo fiddled with Gideon's tools, letting out a small sigh of frustration as he dropped one of the pistons, "This ship is a piece of junk."

Gideon turned to see what he was doing, her pained features relaxing into an amused smile. She pointed to the small welder tucked into his pocket.

"Reattach the piston to the main rebar circuits using that." She explained, "And don't call her junk. She's just... she's one of a kind."

"None of these parts match." He complained, welding the piston back into the wall where it fell previously.

"Yeah." Gideon sighed, turning back to face the control panel as she guided the ship out of the Industrial Sector of Hosnian Prime, "Which is why _I_ should fix it. I know what I'm doing."

Kylo shot her a look, shaking his head, "You'll just make your condition worse. You need to sit. Just tell me how to fix it."

"We need to bypass the damaged stabilizer unit until I can find a replacement." Gideon explained, "Remove it and weld the parts together. You want to connect the blue wires with blue, red with red. Then screw back in the circuit board carefully. If that's damaged the whole ship will blow as soon as we leave the planet's atmosphere."

"How will that fix it?" Kylo did as the captain instructed, but still quirked his brow in curiosity.

"It'll trick the ship into thinking we have stabilizers." She sighed, "Until I can replace it, it'll be a temporary fix."

She powered up the hyperdrive, "Almost done?"

The First Order leader nodded, "Are you sure this will work?"

Flipping a few switches, the engines hummed louder as it readied itself to go into light speed. Gideon prayed to whoever was listening as she pushed the power level forward.

"Let's hope so."

"What-"

The ship took off into hyperspace, shuddering and shaking uncontrollably at first. However, once Gideon was able to repower the bypassed stabilizer, the ship reoriented itself.

Both adults sighed in relief, glad that they didn't blow up or crash back into Hosnian Prime. Gideon wiped the sweat from her brow, leaning her head back on the pilot's chair.

"That was fun." She sighed, closing her eyes as she tried to ignore the growing pain in her side, "I honestly didn't think that'd work."

Kylo leaned against the wall, offering the woman a small smile and a laugh. At the sound she peaked one of her eyes open, quirking a brow at him.

"Did I just make you laugh?" She asked, her face lighting up with joy, "Wow. Anything is possible today."

She grimaced as she adjusted her position in her chair, exhaustion taking over her sore body. Her eyes drooped shut, dizziness and black dots distorting her vision.

"You look terrible." Kylo said, noting the woman's beaten up appearance. She was pale and sweaty, her bare arms wrapped around her abdomen, her dark tank top stained red from a wound in her side.

"Thanks." She whispered, her voice flat, "That really makes me feel better. I'd pat you on the back for your efforts but right now there's two of you."

"Did you get hit on our way out?" He knelt at the woman's side, removing her hands that were wrapped tightly around her side. She had a gash along the side of her abdomen, most likely grazed by a blaster shot in her escape.

The woman shrugged, "I don't know. Everything hurt at the time, and I was so focused on _not_ dying-"

"You were hit." He sighed, "Do you have first aid somewhere?"

Gideon's eyes opened. She looked across the cockpit to her workbench, nodding in that direction.

"Come on." He wrapped an arm around her, helping the woman stand. Gideon gasped out in pain, her eyes squeezing themselves shut. She leaned heavily on Kylo as he practically dragged her to the small cot tucked away in the corner of the ship.

"I'm surprised you didn't just leave me there." Gideon grimaced, practically falling onto her cot, "You got the chips. You knew where the ship was."

Kylo went and grabbed the first aid kit. She was pretty well stocked for someone who practically scavenged for a living. She had a lot of medical equipment, most likely stolen, that would make closing the wound a lot easier.

"I needed you to interpret the chips." He explained, "We have to process the data into your computer."

Gideon nodded, her expression falling into a pained frown, "Of course. You need me for the mission."

"Yeah..." Kylo nodded awkwardly. He lifted up the hem of Gideon's shirt. She stiffened at the graze of his fingers along her side, pulling away from him.

He stopped, confused. Was she that scared of him? Did she really not trust him? Although it was only because he needed her to complete the mission, he was trying to help her.

"You don't want me to just lay here and die." Gideon grimaced, "Because you won't have the satisfaction of killing me yourself."

Her defiance caused a spark of anger to ignite in Kylo. He glared at her, pulling his hands away from her side. Coldness swept over him like a drug, and boy was he addicted to that feeling of cold, numb anger.

"You're right." He sneered, standing up over the captain. He reached out his hand, strangling her with his gift of the Force. Gideon was too powerless to fight him, too injured and exhausted to speak. She just looked up at him, her dark eyes pleading and scared. In the short time that he knew her, Kylo never saw her look so vulnerable.

She was so strong, so defiant. Gideon had been through the ringer in the last few hours, facing the demons of her past, nearly getting beaten to a pulp. She was so physically and mentally exhausted she just stared up at Kylo as he strangled her, her eyes boring into his, unable to do anything to stop him.

There was some spark of familiarity that they shared in that moment. They'd worked together to get this far, their mission almost at its close. Kylo knew that once they had the location of the base Gideon would probably be killed by General Hux's men. It wasn't up to him after that, it was up to the Supreme Leader.

Perhaps this was him being merciful, ending the woman's life on his own terms. He'd be sparing her a lot of pain in the future. She was already wounded, what would be the harm in finishing her off?

But that look in her eye. He'd seen it before. She looked like a scared child despite them being only a few years apart in age. There was resignation in her expression as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, as if she was used to being let down time and time again.

He couldn't do it. There was a tug in his chest, something so painful he thought that she had stabbed him for a moment. As he released her, allowing her to breathe once more, he reached up to his chest and found no injury, no wound.

Then he realized exactly what it was that caused him to spare Gideon's life.

The call to the light.


	8. CodeBreakers

When Gideon came to, she was honestly surprised to still be alive. Her entire body ached tremendously, making even the slightest movement a chore. However, she looked around the ship anyway, trying to find the person who had spared her life.

Her abdomen was tightly wrapped, Gideon feeling the familiar tug of stitches under her bandages. She pushed herself up, finding that the blood had been cleaned off of her hands.

As she reached a hand to her bruised face, she found it absent of blood as well.

What kind of person was he? One moment he was void of any emotion they had previously shared. He was going to kill her. He was killing her.

So how was she still alive?

She saw him lounged in the pilot's chair, his eyes drooped shut, head nodding in a light slumber. They were out of hyperspace, chilling in the middle of a neutral system, cloaked from any ships that might pass.

How long had they been sitting in the Outer Rim?

Gideon carefully brought herself to her feet, being careful of her treated wound. Her head was still foggy and dazed, pain still rippling down her side (but significantly less so). It took her a moment to regain balance.

"You shouldn't be up." Kylo called, eyes still closed, "You'll tear your stitches."

The woman froze, leaning against the wall to keep herself from falling over. One arm protectively held her side, the other gripping the wall tightly.

"You saved me." She said, blinking back the dizziness and exhaustion in her eyes, "Why?"

Kylo spun around, running a hand down his tired face. He looked annoyed that she had woken him up, probably exhausted from the last day of travel.

"You should be resting." He eyed her suspiciously, "Sit down."

Gideon studied him for a moment, almost bewildered. She realized she wouldn't get any answers out of him if she didn't at least listen to him. Carefully she limped across the ship, taking a seat at her bench that sat just behind the pilot's chair.

"You wanted to kill me." She reached a hand up to her throat. Bruises had formed where Grey had strangled her, but there was no evidence of Kylo's Force strangulation.

"I didn't." He spun the chair back around, "Must be your lucky day."

The woman sighed, "Did you start processing the chips?"

He seemed glad at the change of subject. Kylo nodded to Gideon's computer, where one of the data chips was inserted into her hard drive.

"I'm almost halfway through them." He was irritated, "Nothing so far."

Gideon leaned her head against the wall. Her whole body still felt completely exhausted, sore and stiff from the fight. However, she knew she had more pressing issues if the chips she nearly died trying to get didn't give them the location they needed.

"We still have the other half to go through." Gideon offered, "There's time."

"No." He stiffened, "Supreme Leader Snoke contacted us. He wants progress, and soon."

Gideon warily stared at the back of his head, "We'll get it. I'm certain."

"How are you so sure?"

The woman shrugged, "Because I know Brandy. She does business with everyone. She had the location of every organization in the galaxy. The Resistance is one of them."

Kylo nodded, though he didn't have much faith in Gideon's statement. He just sighed when the computer beeped, taking out one chip and slipping in another one.

"We're wasting time." Once of his hands was clenched into a tight fist, his knuckles going white. Gideon shifted nervously on the bench, wincing from the ache in her side. They needed results soon, for Kylo's sake and for Gideon's. If they didn't get the location they needed, the both of them would be in a lot of trouble for wasting the First Order's time.

"Wait." The woman nodded to the chain of data chips. They all had different levels of wear and tear, some looking newer than others, "Can I see those?"

Kylo shot her a glare, "What? No."

"Are they numbered?"

He looked at the woman again suspiciously before bringing the chips closer to his face. He studied them for a bit, flipping them between the pads of his fingers.

"Yes."

"She numbered them by date." Gideon smiled, running a hand down her bruised face, "Find the newest chips, and sort them by number."

Eagerly she got up, minding her stitches, walking excitedly over to Kylo. She helped him lay out the data chips from newest to oldest, taking the one out of the computer to take into account as well. There were thirty-six chips in total. All were the same type of data chip, but issued on different dates.

"How do we know if this is right?" He asked, "The chips could be randomized."

The woman shook her head with a quick laugh. Her fingers delicately sorted through the chips, working quickly, her brows furrowed in concentration. As she found the three newest chips, she checked their numbers.

"What's the last three digits of today's star date?" She asked, "By calendar?"

Kylo looked at the woman like she was an idiot for not knowing the date, but figured she traveled so much it was hard to keep track.

"Two-seven-four." He answered matter-of-factly.

The woman turned over the chips, bringing them up to her face so she could read them better. After studying each one, she popped one into the computer.

"This one is closest to today." She typed in a few key words into the computer to help narrow their search, "The coordinates are on here. I'm sure of it."

She gripped the back of the pilot's chair, her eyes staring at the screen with such a hopeful look Kylo thought her eyes were going to explode from not blinking. He watched the screen with a secret hope as well, knowing that if they wasted anymore time Snoke would send a fleet of men after them, taking any information they have back to the StarDestroyer.

Gideon shifted her weight to her left side, let out a small, strained sigh from moving around sooner than she should have been. However, her grip tightened on the back of the chair, her eyes reading the screen, dancing across the code and script as they appeared rapidly in front of them. For a while, both of them thought that the woman was wrong, that they'd have to start over and sort through the chips all over again.

Then, something flashed across the screen, causing both Kylo and Gideon to practically jump towards the computer. The captain reached the keyboard first, pausing the search and bringing in the readings that they recognized.

The first thing that caught there eyes was the symbol of the Resistance, small and pixelated from being digitized. Then, after it, was a sequence of coordinates.

As she quickly typed the coordinates into the navicomputer, Kylo got up from the chair, allowing the injured woman to sit. She muttered a quick thank you to him as she readied the ship for hyperspace.

"Got it." She sent a grateful look up to him, "Didn't I tell you?"

Kylo shrugged, "Yeah, I guess you did."

She smirked, her eyes sweeping the computer for any other information she might have missed. Just below the coordinates was a radio frequency.

"We should let them know we're coming." She sent a look to Kylo, her eyes asking for his opinion.

"No." He shook his head, "They'll grow suspicious."

Leaning back in the pilot's chair, Gideon let out a long, fatigued sigh. She was completely exhausted from the day or so, her joints and muscles unbelievably cramped and sore.

She couldn't believe that she was actually able to get the new location of the Resistance's base. While Gideon didn't doubt her abilities in being able to find things... she was honestly surprised that she had made it this far alive while traveling with one of the most feared members of the First Order.

Then her chest tightened. What was going to happen to her when this was all over?

"They might shoot us out of the sky." Gideon said to distract herself from her worrying thoughts, "They've grown very secluded lately. Very tight ranks."

"How would you know that?"

The woman gestured to her whole ship, "Well, I kind of do this for a living. It's my job to know everything."

"You don't work for anyone." Kylo argued, "You're a-"

"Yes. I know." The woman nodded, "A criminal. You know, you need some new material. Criminal is more of a blanket term."

"It doesn't matter." He ended the dispute with a look, his dark eyes boring into hers once more, "If we contact them, how do we know they won't prepare to attack us?"

"Well," Gideon turned her radio transmitter to the right frequency, "I know they won't because unlike the First Order, they like to do things out of the good of their hearts."

The man beside her stiffened at her insult, but he replied to her remark anyways, "I saved your life. From the good of my heart."

His tone was flat, and Gideon was pretty sure he didn't mean a word he said, but the gesture warmed her heart briefly as she brought the comm unit to her lips, pressing the transmit button. 

"This is Captain Gideon Oswald of the XSR Freighter the Stargazer. Requesting permission to land, I'm about two hours from your location." She called into the comm unit, allowing the transmission to process as they waited for a reply.

After a long moment of silence, Gideon repeated the transmission.

Then she got a reply.

"Captain Oswald this is Commander Poe Dameron. What are the conditions of your arrival?"

Gideon pressed the transmit button again, "Commander, I'm issuing a Code Seventy-Seven. Hit in crossfire and in desperate need of fuel. I'm about two hours from your location."

"Code seventy-seven?" Kylo asked, leaning close to hear the staticky transmission, "What does that mean?"

The woman shrugged awkwardly, "Seeking immediate refuge, needing assistance, something along those lines. It's a basic flight code I picked up at the New Republic."

"Captain Oswald, you're clear to arrive. See you in two hours." The Resistance Commander replied. Gideon's heart leapt in her chest as she smiled.

"Copy that, Commander." She quickly replied before leaning back in the chair.

Kylo Ren took a seat behind her on the bench, looking much more relieved at the status of their mission. He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, eyes closed as he rested his head against the wall. Gideon, figuring he was trying to get some rest before they arrived, turning back to the controls as she locked in their location into the hyperdrive.

As she faced away from him, her expression hardened, hands shaking as they activated light speed. Gideon let out a long sigh of relief, her shoulders slumped forward as she closed her eyes. Her part was done, and now all she had to do was wait, and hope that she'd be alive when the First Order was done with her.

Mission complete.


	9. Nowhere

"You're getting better at this." Gideon observed as she instructed Kylo how to fully replace the stabilizers, "Like, I'd actually trust you to do this on your own... maybe."

Sending the woman a look, he rolled his eyes. They'd been exchanging light, witty banter for the last ninety minutes. Gideon was resting in the pilot's chair, having being told several times by Kylo that the last thing she wanted was for those stitches to reopen. He also made it very clear it was the last thing he wanted. She had been trying to work on the ship herself, fixing a few of the major damages before they landed at the base.

So, they made a deal. Kylo would fix the damages, with her careful instruction, if she just agreed to sit down and not move around too much.

"You're lucky you're not as unbearable as I initially thought." He retorted.

"Me? Unbearable?" She repeated, "I'm the most bearable person you'll probably ever meet. No offense to your pal General Hux... but he's really just..."

She trailed off as she searched for the word, trying to find something both accurate in its description and not as insulting so she wouldn't piss of Kylo.

"He's a snob." He offered, not even missing a beat, "Everyone knows that."

The captain opened her mouth to speak, but was honestly genuinely shocked at his reply. Gideon didn't think Kylo would ever take part in her insulting of the First Order. Well, it wasn't really a big insult. There are worse thing to be than snobby.

Gideon checked their status on approaching the Resistance base, her hands growing clammy, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt as her eyes danced across the computer screen. The closer they got to the base, the more nervous she was getting concerning her own fate, not to mention what would happen once they got there.

Would it be a complete bloodbath that she'd be caught in the middle of? Would the First Order immediately take her and cart her away to toss into a cell and be left to die? The thought sickened her, especially because of how surprisingly well she and Kylo were getting along.

Well... any encounter with Kylo Ren where you don't die a terrible death is automatically a win.

"We're almost on Nowhere." She said, her navicomputer beeping to notify the woman they were almost ready to exit hyperspace, "And before you ask, that's the name of the moon we're going to."

Kylo put down Gideon's tools, finished with the needed repairs. He nodded to the woman as slowly walked towards the other side of the ship. Almost mechanically he put on the outer layers of his uniform.

"You're worried about what's going to happen." He said, pulling on his thick leather gloves, "Once we get there."

Her eyes sharpening with fear, the woman nodded, a hint of embarrassment flushing in her cheeks. Her fear and anxiety about the next few hours was probably so strong Kylo could probably see right through her.

Gideon bit her lip, offering a small nod, "Yeah."

There was no witty reply or sarcasm, no show of overconfidence. Gideon was afraid she'd reach the end of the line, that as soon as the First Order stormed the base she'd be painfully ripped away from her life.

Kylo tucked his mask under his arm, unmoving from his position in the corner of the ship. His eyes studied the woman for a moment, his dark eyes that were like black voids trying to search Gideon's brown ones for an answer that seemed acceptable.

He could just let her down right now, saying that she'd probably be killed as soon as the First Order arrived on Nowhere. He honestly didn't know, because that wasn't up to him anymore.

Snoke had sensed his growing acquaintance with her, and had taken that decision away from him.

However, she looked just as she had hours before, when he had nearly killed her out of mercy and pity. Her eyes searched his for some sort of comfort, like she wanted to say something to desperate and pleading to him but she was holding herself back.

"I have faith that the First Order will know what to do." Was all he could say. It was stupid response, a mechanical reflex he reverted back to as the growing reality was shoved in front of him.

He had a job to do, a duty to fulfill. There was no room for worrying about self-proclaimed captains with sassy attitudes and a blatant disregard for current events. There was no room for friends. His destiny was full of ruthlessness, of choices, of cold overarching power.

Gideon's eyes dropped to the floor, her mouth twitching downwards as she fought a frown. She had hoped that he'd say something more promising. That he'd reassure her that her life would be spared.

The computer beeped again, and Gideon turned back to the front of the cockpit.

"We're here." She called forcibly, her voice strained and wavering slightly. The woman said nothing as she brought the ship out of hyperspace, piloting it slowly towards the small moon of Nowhere.

She turned on the transmitter again, turning to the Resistance's frequency, "Commander Dameron, this is Captain Oswald, we are approaching your location. Clear to approach and land?"

Gideon's voice was quiet and dull, her hands wringing themselves together as she waited for a reply. She could feel Kylo staring at the back of her head, his mind trying to access hers.

"Don't." She said to him, throwing a pleading glance over her shoulder, "You could at least spare me that."

The dizzying feeling went away, Kylo's version of a bad apology. Gideon had no idea what his deal was. One moment they got along, making a good team as they completed the mission with little complications. The next, he was cold and distant again, unable to even tell her she wouldn't be killed once she steps foot off the ship.

" _Captain Oswald, you're all clear_."

Gideon shut off the transmitter as she brought the ship forward, entering the moon's atmosphere with little turbulence. She checked the planet's coordinates again, where she found the base's ground location. That was where they needed to land.

"I'm guessing you notified the First Order already." Gideon didn't know how he had been in contact with them all this time, but she really didn't care.

"They're on their way here as we speak."

Nowhere was a lush moon of the Ergos System located in the Outer Rim. It had a sustainable atmosphere with breathable air, with a forest biome north of the moon's equator, and a rocky mountain biome south of it.

The place was littered with cave systems and tunnels placed their by indigenous inhabitants, perfect for housing a secret base.

At least that's what Gideon thought.   
  
  


* * *

As Kylo and Gideon stepped out of the ship, their boots meeting the plush grass and soft dirt of the valley they landed in. It was a bit chilly despite the tropical looming biome, causing Gideon to shiver as she followed the First Order leader. Her jacket and shawl had been left on Hosnian Prime, leaving her in only a sleeveless shirt which left her arms exposed.

"Where is it?" Kylo asked aloud, his hand tightly gripping the hilt of his lightsaber. His voice was muddled and distorted from his helmet, which he was put on as soon as they touched down on Nowhere.

"There are extensive caves and tunnels within the mountains." Gideon offered, arms wrapped around herself from the cold weather, "Their ships and radio units won't appear on my scanners, but they will on the StarDestroyer."

Kylo Ren turned to Gideon with a curt nod, "That is a good point."

He looked up at the sky, "They'll be here any moment now."

Gideon nodded, looking down at her boots to hide the grim and worried expression on her features. Any moment until her fate was sealed, until she finds out if the mission was actually a success, or if all of this work with the First Order was just a big death trap.

"What is going to happen?" She asked, tucking a loose curl behind her ear as the wind blew it into her face.

"General Hux will send down a wave of troops and TIE Fighters. We'll storm the base." He explained, a cold edge added to his voice from the helmet's filter. He trailed off, looking around the valley to keep himself from looking at Gideon. She knew what would happen next. They'd kill everyone in sight, capture those they deemed important.

The thought sickened Gideon, causing her knees to wobble, bile pushing up in her throat. She wished that she hadn't done this, that she was anywhere but here.

All she wanted was to get back in her ship, get as far away from here as possible, and go back to her life. She'd probably go to Ryloth like she planned, settle their for a few weeks to trade and clear her head.

She was dreading it before, and now she wanted to make that run more than ever.

"They're here." Kylo announced, bringing Gideon out of her thoughts, pointing up at the sky. Way up in the sky, probably hovering just outside the atmosphere, was the StarDestroyer. A few bombers were descending down on them, followed by a fleet of TIE Fighters.

Gideon took a tiny step behind Kylo as they landed around the Stargazer, their lights brightening up the otherwise dark sky. She was visibly nervous, her hands clamped tightly into fists at her side, goosebumps clad on her skin. The captain tried to hide her anxiety, doing her best to keep an even, confident expression on her face as the starships opened their doors.

However, she knew her fake confidence would soon be in vain.

Walking quickly towards the First Order leader was Captain Phasma, responsible for commanding a large number of Stormtroopers. No one knows what she looks like except for her silver armor and intimidating height. Her specialty was executions.

"There seems to be a problem." Captain Phasma said as she approached Kylo Ren, "I thought we were storming the Resistance's Headquarters."

Kylo stiffened, his head snapping in Phasma's direction.

"Yes." He said shortly, "The Resistance base is here, hidden within the tunnels and caves in the mountains. Have General Hux run a scan of the moon."

"Just after we landed General Hux sent me the results of the scan." Captain Phasma was annoyed, her voice deep and filled with a coldness that scared Gideon, "There's no evidence of any Resistance starships within the entire system. No one has been on this moon for years, not even the indigenous inhabitants. If there was a Resistance base here, there isn't one now."

"What are you saying?" Kylo demanded, his voice heavily laced with anger.

Gideon froze as both the gazes of Captain Phasma and Kylo Ren landed on her. The silver-armored trooper let out a hollow laugh.

"It looks like we've been tricked, Lord Ren."


	10. Truth Hurts

"Leave us." Kylo ordered Captain Phasma, his entire body radiating a rage that made Gideon tremble. She took a few steps back, her eyes nervously darting to her ship just a few paces behind them.

As the Captain left, the masked man turned to Gideon slowly. Before he even lifted his hand was she thrown back, her back hitting the side of her ship with a metallic thud.

She was pressed against the ship by the Force, her neck encased in a strong pressure that allowed no air to pass in or out of her lungs. There was a pain that radiated throughout her body as he slowly approached her, his cracking red lightsaber making his mask look even more sinister.

"You lied to me." He growled, curling his knuckles as Gideon squirmed, gasping and choking for air. Her face was was flushed and red, her eyes practically bulging, "You tricked me. You tricked the First Order."

Tears leaked from the corner of Gideon's eyes. She gasped, trying to push out a few words as black dots slowly started to take over her vision.

"B-Ben." She choked out, " _Please_!"

Kylo Ren was caught off guard, letting Gideon drop to the ground as he lost his hold on her. The woman leaned back against the Stargazer, clutching her neck as she took desperate gulps of air that came in labored wheezes rattling her whole body. She was crying, her eyes softening as she looked up at him.

"What did you just call me?" He asked bitterly, trying to mask his surprise and confusion.

"Ben." Gideon repeated, her voice fuller now that she wasn't being strangled, "Let me... please let me-"

" _Where_ did you learn that name?" In one swift movement his lightsaber was hovering an inch from the captain's chest. Gideon could feel its heat and power radiating off the crackling weapon. One move, from either of them, and she'd be dead.

"Look at me." She pleaded him, "Just look at me, _please_ , I can't keep pretending anymore."

The air was tense and full of questions. Kylo Ren stared at the woman in front of him, not moving the position of his lightsaber, his heart pounding and mind racing with possibilities.

How did she know that name? How was she able to resist the Force? Why did he feel so compelled to be kind to her when the the past several years of his life he's felt nothing but anger, fear, and hate?

Raising one hand, he removed his mask, tossing it into the grass at his feet. His dark eyes met Gideon's, causing the girl to shed more tears. All of those emotions she's been hiding from him since the moment they started this mission seemed to be pouring out of her. As much as she felt them, he seemed to feel them too.

A longing, pleading sort of love. A ghost of a relationship they used to share practically twenty years ago. He knew those eyes, he remembered a laugh similar to hers in what felt like a different, dying lifetime. He was suddenly seized by an urge of protectiveness over the young woman in front of him, trying to take over his bitter feelings of betrayal.

"Dalia." He whispered, the coldness leaving his eyes. He unlit his lightsaber, dropping it on the ground between their feet.

Kylo Ren didn't know whether to run, or scream, or cry, or even pick up his lightsaber again and shove it through her chest. She looked so different, so grown up, so weathered and worn by all that she's seen. She wasn't the small, innocent little sister he had when he left all those years ago. She was practically a stranger, but in that moment years of their close relationship came rushing back to him.

"I'm sorry." Gideon whispered, bringing him back to reality, "Let me-"

"Dalia." He said again, causing her red eyes to snap up, her lips to stop quivering as she whispered out meaningless pleas and explanations in a moment of sheer fear and sadness.

Gideon had wanted to say his name since the moment he removed his helmet on her ship, at a time that felt like ages ago. She saw her brother in him, the brother who ran around playing Jedi with her when they were kids, who told her bedtime stories, and who even teased her about her height or her curls.

But this wasn't her brother in front of her, despite wearing his face. There was something inside of him, poisoning his heart and blackening his intentions.

All this time she had known it was him, but was too afraid of his dark soul to do anything.

Gideon opened her mouth to explain herself, to plead her case to him. It hurt her heart to betray her brother even though he was Kylo Ren now, a murderer and a feared leader of the First Order. However, she knew what she had done was right.

"You lied to me." He said again, this time with more anger and hurt rattling around in his throat. His eyes went cold again, his hand outstretched, forcing the captain to her feet.

Gideon braced herself for the pain of the oxygen to be slowly pulled from her lungs until she faded into nothing. She even waited for the sharp, burning pierce of his lightsaber being shoved through her chest.

However, she felt the touch of his gloved hand on her forehead. A small throb of pain seized he her whole head, and then nothing.

All she recalled was the feeling of her body dropping onto the cold, damp grass, her mind descending into an enveloping darkness.   
  
  


* * *

  
  


**_TWO HOURS EARLIER_ **   
**_LOCATION: NOWHERE_ **

"General Organa."

New Republic Pilot, Commander Poe Dameron, was running through the stoney interior of the base's tunnels, trying to catch up with the woman. He kindly shoved passed many of his fellow Resistance Fighters, desperate to reach the General.

"General Organa!"

The woman, who had heard the Commander calling her name for the last thirty seconds but felt compelled to ignore him for her own amusement, finally turned around. She stared down the Commander with an unreadable expression, arms folded across her chest.

"You better have something good for me, Dameron. I'm getting tired of your attitude." General Leia Organa warned as the Commander approached.

"I just received a very important transmission." He breathed, eyes furrowed on worry, "We need to abandon this base right now and get as far away from here as possible."

Leia Organa quirked a brow, bewildered at the pilot's desperate message.

"Commander, need I remind you that I have more pressing issues to worry about, such as locating-"

"The message came from Captain Gideon Oswald. She issued Code Seventy-Seven." Poe cut in, causing the General's more relaxed expression to tighten in concern.

"Code Seventy-Seven?" She repeated, "An ambush?"

He nodded, "Yes. We have two hours before the First Order touches down here."

General Organa looked around the base, her firm eyes dancing across what she once thought was a safe and undisclosed location. She didn't let her worry snow on her face, but instead gave the Commander a wary expression.

"Why should we believe this transmission?" She asked him, "How would this Captain Oswald know of our location and transmission frequency?"

"I trust her with my life, General." Poe explained, "I've known Gideon for seven years. She wouldn't have found a way to warn us if this wasn't an actual threat."

Leia nodded, reading the urgency on his face, the honesty embedded in his eyes.

"And why should I trust her?"

Poe Dameron took a step towards the General, assuming a look of pure honesty and trust. He was only known to give this expression when he really meant what he said.

"Because she's your daughter." He explained, "She's Dalia."

Leia's eyes softened, her chest tightening at his words. She swallowed her surprise and nodded firmly at the pilot.

"I'll send the immediate evacuation order." She nodded, "I need you to continue with your mission, Commander. You're our only hope in finding the map before the First Order does."

Poe Dameron nodded dutifully, turning back towards the hangar. He needed to head to Jakku immediately if he wanted to get there before their enemies. However, before he could take a step, General Organa grabbed his wrist.

They locked eyes again, Leia's almost grateful for the news that it was her daughter who had contacted them, even if it was terrible news.

"Thank you." She smiled, "May the Force be with you."


	11. Mind Games

_Wake up_

One bright fluorescent light seemed to cover the whole ceiling, shining down into her eyes as they slowly peeled themselves open.

Gideon groaned, her head foggy and eyelids heavy as she slowly returned to consciousness. Her limbs were stiff and aching, her mouth as dry as sand. There was an invisible weight pressing down on her chest, straining her lungs whenever she tried to suck in a deep breath.

She was laying back, though she wasn't on the floor. Her arms and legs were strapped tightly down by thick metal cuffs, her head resting back on a small headrest that wasn't the least bit comfortable.

Slowly she picked up her head, blinking the heavy fog out of her eyes. She was tucked into a small room, facing the small door less opening that led to a wide, metallic hallway. One Stormtrooper stood guard, but she could see as others periodically walk by.

From what Gideon could tell, she was in the containment wing. There was another room across the wall from her, empty, the same restraining apparatus situated in the center of the room.

"Good. You're awake." The muddled, altered sound of Kylo Ren's voice chilled Gideon's senses, causing her to rest her head back down against the headrest. How long had he been there, watching her?

"What.." she swallowed in an attempt to bring some moisture to her dry throat, "What happened?"

She put it more like a demand, trying to hide her foggy confusion as the haziness slowly started to lift from her mind.

"Welcome to the First Order." He simply said, walking up to the front of the room to get the attention of the Stormtrooper standing guard, "Leave us."

Gideon was confused as to why she was still somehow alive, or why Kylo hadn't tried to kill her the moment she opened her eyes.

Then, the events leading up to her being knocked unconscious slowly came back to her. She looked to Kylo, her expression unchanging as she watched him carefully.

"This changes things." He explained, slowly circling the captain, "Knowing your real identity. I'm impressed by how easily you were able to hide it from the First Order."

Gideon kept her eyes trained on him, feeling powerless to defend herself while she was strapped down. All she had was her words to use against him, which even then was a terrible idea.

"It's not just you I'm hiding it from." The woman answered, her voice quieter than she'd like it to be.

"It really makes me wonder what else you're hiding." Ren continued, ignoring her as he paced the floor. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides, straight and rigid as he conducted the interrogation of his sister

"I know how this is going to go." Gideon explained, "Despite if it's true or not, I'm going to tell you I don't know anything. You'll get pissed and probably-"

He backhanded her across the face. Gideon's head snapped to the side, pain radiating across her jaw, tingling up the flesh of her cheek into into her cheekbone. Black dots temporarily danced around in the corners of her vision, her brain felt like it was being shoved around in her skull.

"Do that?" He was pleased with himself, "You're on my ship, Oswald. We're going to do things my way, now."

Gideon blinked several times to focus her eyes on him. She didn't get why he was acting like this, when the last time they spoke she was so close to reaching her brother.

He took her quiet as an answer.

"You were the one who warned the Resistance that we were coming, is that correct?" He started with something they both knew the answer to, testing the waters to see how the rest of this was going to go.

"Yes. You know that." She replied lazily, grimacing as the pain from his blow still radiated hotly across her face.

"What was your real mission, Oswald?" Ren moved on, "You warned the Resistance of our ambush, but what else are you hiding?"

The woman shook her head, "I'm not with the Resistance, Ben-"

" _Don't_ call me that." He spat, "You will tell me what you know, or I will find other means of getting information out of you."

Gideon looked up at the ceiling, at a loss for words. She truly didn't know anything about the Resistance's current agenda. She hasn't set foot on a base since she was eighteen. At this point, he was simply messing with her, like a predator playing with its food before striking the deadly blow.

"I don't know what the Resistance is up to." She answered honestly, "I only sent the warning. You know that."

Kylo stopped pacing when he was directly in front of her, blocking Gideon from the view of anyone who walked by. He leaned in, his masked face merely inches from hers.

"You lied to me before." He said darkly, "and I know you're lying now. You know something."

"I'm not going to argue with you." Gideon spat, "You won't believe anything I tell you even if it's the truth."

She watched Kylo Ren slowly raise a hand as he backed away, the fingertips of his black leather gloves lightly grazing her ear. She felt the familiar dizzying pull of the Force inside her head.

"Then I'll just look for myself."

He twitched his fingertips, twisting his hand sideways. The pull turned into a forceful tug, which turned into a stabbing, pounding yank. Gideon grimaced, her entire body tensing as she tried to resist his forced entry into her mind.

It felt like giant hammers were pounding against her skull as she resisted, her eyes red with tears as she kept her gaze focused on Kylo. She may not have been as gifted with the Force as he was, but she still had her own connection with it.

"Stop resisting." His voice was strained as he pushed himself, a small tremor in his fingertips as he pushed his abilities further.

Gideon was staring Ren down, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead as she struggled to hold him off. She wasn't going to let him get inside her head. Even if she didn't know anything, the simple act allowed him power over her, allowed him to dive deeper into darkness.

" _Get out_ of my head!" She yelled. Her whole body was shaking, straining from the effort. Anger and frustration oozed off of her, mixing with her brother's own angst and turmoil as they fought against each other. She had him frozen, unable to lift up his other hand or move his entire body.

Gideon had him pinned.

"How jealous were you when your brother possessed a gift you so greatly desired?" Kylo asked the captain, trying to loosen her focus so he could penetrate her mind, "You come from a long line of legends, three of whom were the greatest Force-users in the history of the galaxy, and you were left with nothing. You're _weak_."

Gideon didn't budge, trying to tune out his intimidation. Her lungs burned for air, causing her breathing to quicken into short gasps for oxygen.

"Everyone in your family did something with their lives." Her brother continued, "And you're just a criminal with nobody to miss you when you're gone."

"You don't know anything about me." Gideon retorted through grit teeth.

Just as the captain was sure Ren was going to give out, he seemed to add a wave of strength that he'd been hiding the whole time. Despite her scrambling efforts, Gideon wasn't strong enough to hold him off forever. He was right, she was weak. She didn't have the gift of the Force like the majority of her family had.

Kylo Ren's other hand went to the other side of Gideon's head, curling and twisting as he played with the foundations of her mind.

It was a lot more painful than her attempt to hold him off.

Her brain felt like it was being ripped apart, every thought and memory she ever had was jumbled, shoved aside, tearing away from each other. Nothing was making sense. Gideon's entire head burned a hot, sharp pain as her thoughts were searched through.

Reality seemed to fade away from Gideon, the only thing she could comprehend in a world of quiet were her pained, desperate screams. She no longer knew where she was or what was causing this pain. Her thoughts were scrambled, causing incoherent phrases to be mumbled out in fearful whispers.

As Kylo Ren found what he wanted, he lowered his hands down by his sides. He watched Gideon for a moment, her eyes squeezed shut as she choked back a few sobs. Once he was out of her head, things slowly started to piece themselves back together, bringing her back to reality.

As she slowly slipped into unconsciousness, tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, mixing with the sweat that was rolling down the side of her pale face. Her entire body was trembling so badly her restraints raddled, only quieter than the big, desperate gasps of her breathing.

She just hoped that when she woke up, she'd still remember her own name.


	12. It's Going to Be Okay

"Captain Oswald is still unconscious? It's been hours."

"Yes. She was particularly stubborn when I accessed her mind."

"What did you get from her?"

"The last transmission she sent out didn't come from the Resistance Base, but somewhere else. I'm having her ship's memory scanned for the transmission so we can track it."

"What will you do with her now?"

"That depends on what we get from the pilot. Let me know if they get anything out of him."

Two pairs of footsteps, belonging to General Hux and Kylo Ren respectively, swiftly exited Gideon's interrogation room. At the sound of footsteps and voices, she had slowly begun to lift from the spell of exhaustion that kept her unconscious for so long.

From across the hall she could hear the thud of someone being repeatedly beaten, their groans accompanying the hits in an uneven rhythm. Gideon strained to open her eyes, which felt dry and foreign in her skull. Everything around her had a blurry hue to it, just a maze of lights and shapes. She had to force herself to focus her vision.

She was still in the same room, strapped down to the same apparatus. The amount of time she had spent in there was unknown to the captain, although she felt dehydrated and exhausted enough to guess that it had been more than just a few hours.

Gideon's eyes lazily trailed to across the hall, where the room that had previously been empty was now occupied. Two Stormtroopers stood over them, one asking questions and the other delivering the nasty blows when they weren't answered. Whoever was strapped down was just taking whatever they were laying on them, not a word coming out of their mouth.

As her clouded mind worked to right itself after being ransacked by Kylo Ren, Gideon let out a small gasp of pain when she moved her neck. The more she tried to move, the more pain radiated up through the top of her spine into her skull. Her brain pulsed in tune with her heart, feeling like it would burst out of her skull at any moment.

She didn't want to watch the scene going on across the hall. It made her stomach twist in uneasy knots, her body flinching and recoiling with every hit that was delivered to the prisoner. The Stormtroopers were adamant, demanding information, trying to make deals, threatening them. This prisoner knew something that the First Order desperately wanted.

No matter how hard she tried to look away, something was telling her not to, urging her to find out who this prisoner was.

One of the Stormtroopers stepped to the side, allowing Gideon to get a good view of the prisoner strapped down, head leaning back as they fought off the pain and exhaustion of the First Order's interrogation. Gideon's entire body grew rigid, her heart throbbing in her chest as panic rose.

She knew him.

Gideon painfully picked up her head to get a better look, not trusting what her mind was telling her. It could just be a trick, her scrambled mind showing her what she feared most, what she least expected. She blinked, shaking her head with a grimace, staring at him through her little doorway across the hall.

Yes, she definitely knew him.

Her lips worked lazily, her throat pushing out a small mumble of his name, though she knew that calling him would only make things worse for the both of them.

"Poe." It came out as a whisper, her arms tugging forward on the restraints, more panic rising in her throat. No one heard her speak, not even the Stormtrooper standing right outside her door.

She watched as the two Stormtroopers interrogating him left abruptly, leaving the pilot alone in his room to prepare himself for whatever was going to come next. He laid his head back, eyes drooping, hands clenched into tight fists. He looked exhausted, a few bruises colored his face from the interrogation.

Gideon just watched him, brows furrowed with worry, praying that he would look up and see her, give her a sign that he was alright. She didn't know she was shivering until her body clanked against the restraints, her bare goosebump ridden arms brushing against cold metal.

No one walked by their rooms for quite a while, not even Stormtroopers. Gideon rested her head back, her eyes still focused on the doorway in front of her, even if she couldn't see all the way into Dameron's room.

Then, out of the corner of her she saw movement come from his direction. She shot her head up, ignoring the pain it caused her, and then sighed in relief when she saw dark eyes staring back at her.

At first he looked worried, the woman staring back at him covered in dark bruises, her face pale and clammy. Her eyes were dazed and unfocused, her body trembling, but she held herself up with the determination to let him know she was okay.

He raised his brows at her, as if asking the woman a question. Gideon gave a short, confident nod, her lips spreading into a meek smile.

Yes, she was okay.

Poe returned her smile with one of relief, nodding curtly. He jerked his hand in his restraints, his eyes signaling for the woman to look down to see what he was trying to tell her.

In the time she's known the pilot, they had come up with brief signals, mostly discarded military signals that they adopted into their own language. Poe's hand was flat, his hands moving side to side briefly before changing into a thumbs up.

The first signal they used to let the other know which direction they were going in. The second was a sign of agreement, or a sign to let the other know that it was okay.

They were going to be okay.

Gideon nodded, returning the thumbs up. She knew he was just trying to tell her that to make her feel better, because despite her efforts to keep herself collected, her eyes betrayed her calm.

Poe gave her a reassuring look, which calmed Gideon's overwhelming panic. He always knew how to keep himself calm and collected no matter the situation. It's why he was such a good pilot, and why General Organa had wanted him to join the Resistance.

The woman rested her head back against the headrest, her eyelids heavy with fatigue. Whatever Kylo Ren had done to her while he breached her mind, it made even the slightest movements completely exhausting. She wasn't in the greatest shape to begin with, let alone after attempting to fight of Ren's immense power of the Force.

If Gideon wanted to hang onto the hope that she and Dameron would both make it out of the First Order alive, she needed to rest.

But more importantly, she needed to have hope.   
  
  


* * *

"I had no idea we had the best pilot of the Resistance in our midst."

Gideon jerked herself awake at the altered sound of her brother's voice, a wave of panic washing over her. She picked up her head, looking around her room and across the hall until her eyes landed on the masked, hooded figure of Kylo Ren.

He was standing in Poe's room, circling the pilot sinisterly. Gideon knew what he was going to do. If the Stormtroopers couldn't extract the information from Poe, then Kylo Ren was going to take it by force.

And it was a pain she didn't want the pilot to experience.

Gideon pulled on the restraints, which were so tight that even the slightest twist or pull irritated her wrists. Her mind was still foggy from sleep, making it hard for her to pick her head up, to focus her vision into anything but blurry shapes.

"Comfortable?" Kylo asked the pilot, slowing his predatory pacing until he was stopped just in front of Poe, blocking him from Gideon's view.

"Not really." Poe retorted, his eyes blinking themselves awake as he watched the cloaked member of the First Order with a watchful, wary glance.

"I'm impressed." Kylo Ren went on, "No one had been able to get out of you what you did with the map."

"Might want to rethink your technique." The pilot offered, the small rise in his shoulders suggesting a petty shrug.

Although Gideon could admit she missed Poe's confidence and attitude when dealing with the enemy, she knew that it wouldn't end well for him. Kylo Ren didn't care about banter or conversation, all he wanted right now was this map.

Gideon lifted her head, tilting to to the side to catch a glimpse of the interrogation going on in front of her. Neither Poe or Kylo noticed her watching, her brown eyes fixated on the scene, unable to tear themselves away.

Kylo raised his hand next to Poe's head, twisting his wrist as he began to breech his mind. At first, the pilot tried to resist, trying to pull his head away from Ren's gloved hand.

Then, Kylo threw the pilot's head back roughly into the headrest. The prisoner was pinned, the wind knocked out of him, the pain starting to creep into his temples. Gideon watched helplessly, her wrists tugging desperately on her restraints.

"Where is it?" Kylo asked Poe, bringing his head forward.

Gideon pulled herself up, leaning forward in the restraints, trying to find her voice so she could call out, to distract her brother from hurting her friend anymore than he already has.

"The Resistance," Poe spat, his voice strained, "Will not be intimidated by you."

As Kylo Ren pressed further into his mind, twisting his hand and curling his fingers as he caused the pilot more and more pain, Gideon was becoming more and more angry.

She yelled out, trying to get his attention away from Poe. Her wrists and ankles ached as she struggled and yanked, a dark kind of desperation taking over as she cursed the man interrogating her most trusted friend.

Kylo raised his other hand, slamming Gideon's head back into her restraints, keeping her pinned and frozen in her spot. He turned back to Dameron, drawing a strangled, pained scream from his lips.

" _Where_?" He demanded again, seeming pleased with the amount of pain and fear he was causing. Poe tried to keep him out of his head, to close off his mind, but that was nearly impossible when it felt like your own sanity was being ripped apart.

Gideon's eyes rolled back, unconsciousness taking control of her once again. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, praying as Poe's screams faded into an eerie quiet that what he told her would somehow come true.

That they were going to be okay.


	13. Back to Jakku

"No, no. I don't need her, I need you."

"Well she's part of the deal. You want to do this? We're taking her with us."

Gideon was gently shaken awake, two people standing over her. The woman slowly opened her eyes, preparing herself for it to be two Stormtroopers, or her brother and General Hux again. She just wanted to be left alone.

"We have to move. Now."

"Come on, we're getting you out of here."

Poe's signature reassuring smile greeted the captain as he pulled her out of her restraints. He gripped her arm tightly as she swayed on weak knees, helping her keep her balance. Gideon looked around, seeing a Stormtrooper standing just behind the pilot, helmet tucked under his arm. His dark skin was pebbled with a nervous sweat as he looked cautiously out into the hallway.

"What?" She pulled away, "Is this-"

"Hey." He gently shook her shoulders, "We're leaving this place. Where's your ship, is it here?"

It took Gideon moment to realize what was happening. She blinked, her eyes shifting from the trooper to the pilot as Poe's question was processing in her mind. What had happened since she last blacked out? How much time had passed? How was Poe able to easily have a plan for escape?

"The hangar." She winced as she took a few steps forward, stumbling only slightly, "By the TIEs. They're scanning it for transmissions."

The Stormtrooper nodded impatiently, "Alright. Now, we need to leave, and _soon_ or-"

"Who's that?" Gideon asked suspiciously, shifting her eyes to Poe.

"We're being rescued." Poe explained, putting a Stormtrooper helmet over his head, "Surprise!"

He had somehow managed to find Stormtrooper armor to disguise himself. Gideon was about to ask where he got it, but then he noticed the unarmored, unarmed Stormtrooper strapped to Poe's old restraints across the hall. They were completely unconscious, a trickle of blood exiting a cut in their forehead.

"Does your ship have a good weapons system?" The Stormtrooper asked the captain as he loosely cuffed her wrists, bringing her attention back to the two.

"Are you kidding?" She offered a weak smile, "She'll get us out of here."

"Okay." Poe gripped Gideon by the arm, "Let's do this."

The Stormtrooper gave a quick peak outside, and then motioned for the two to follow. The woman stumbled a bit, hunched from her fatigue. Her blaster wound, although sewed and tightly bandaged, sent a sharp ache down the side of her abdomen. The stitches felt loose, torn, probably from Kylo Ren attacking her on Nowhere.

With Poe on her left and the Stormtrooper on her right, she was escorted out of her interrogation room and through the bleak, metallic halls of the StarDestroyer. She kept her head down, allowing her messy curls to fall into her face, hiding her identity as they walked past pairs of patrolling Stormtroopers.

"Okay. Be calm, be calm, be calm." The Stormtrooper sighed, adjusting the hold on his blaster, which was pointed at Gideon.

"I am calm." Poe replied coolly, his light tone almost making Gideon smile. However, she bit her tongue, doing her best to keep up with the two as they brought her into the hangar.

"I know." The Stormtrooper sighed, "I'm telling myself."

"That one, with the red and blue stripes down the middle." Gideon whispered as she subtlety nodded to her ship, tucked just beside the TIE Fighters, "Let's hope no one's inside."

"That peace of junk?" Their rescuer judged, "That will get us nowhere."

Still, they approached the ship, not being noticed by any other Stormtroopers or First Order officials. As they neared the boarding dock, no one appeared to be guarding the freighter. They must have gotten all they could from the Stargazer already.

"Trust me, she's quicker than she looks." Poe defended the Stargazer, "Moves just like a T-70."

"I hope so." The Stormtrooper pulled them sharply to the left, "Okay, let's go."

The three of them were able to make it inside the Stargazer, closing up the door behind them. There were no troopers inside, just some of their equipment hooked up to the ship's transmitter. Gideon unhooked and disabled the tech, but decided not to destroy it. Perhaps it could come in handy in the future.

"Gunners are down there." Gideon nodded to a small ladder that dropped down into the main weapons system, "Two basic controls: one to aim, one to fire. It has the same design as a blaster. The buttons across the top are labeled with the different types of firepower I have loaded down there."

The Stormtrooper took off his helmet, giving a nervous but dutiful look as he climbed down to the gunners. Poe quickly shed his trooper gear, tossing his helmet to the side as he rushed to the cockpit.

"Woah, did you refurbish the control panel?" He asked Gideon, who was following him to the pilot's chair. As she went to sit down, the Resistance pilot beat her to it.

"Hey, that's my seat." She playfully hit him in the arm, "That chair is for the captain."

"Captain?" Poe gave a short laugh, "Tell me, did you even attend Flight Academy?"

The woman gripped onto the back of the chair, watching Poe get the freighter up and running to make their quick escape. Gideon switched on the in-ship comms system, allowing them to talk to their new Stormtrooper friend.

"No." She said matter-of-factly, "But I definitely have a certificate around here that says I did."

Poe quickly glanced around the ship, "Wait, were you living in here?"

"Maybe." Gideon shrugged, "So?"

"Less talking, more flying!" The Stormtrooper called, "Have you even flown one of these before?"

"Of course I have." Poe scoffed, carefully getting the ship into the air, "Trust me, I can fly anything."

As he powered the engine's boosters, the ship caught on something that had anchored the freighter down. The ship jerked, causing Gideon to stumble forward, nearly running into the control panel.

"What happened?" The Stormtrooper called back, "We're stuck!"

Gideon pulled herself to the controls, trying to figure out where the ship was tethered to the fuel pump, "I can fix this."

"You better, we're about to take some hits." Poe worked expertly at the controls, "Putting shields up."

"I put in new hydrogen thrusters. As soon as we break free you're gonna wanna put those on." The captain called, gripping onto the wall as the ship jerked again.

"Hydrogen thrusters? On top of the regular ones?" The pilot asked Gideon, "And it didn't overheat the engine?"

"Would we be here if it didn't?"

She flipped a switch, and suddenly they were untethered, stalling a few feet forward as both Poe and Gideon realized they were home free, exchanging smirks of excitement. Gideon gripped onto the back of the pilot's chair once more, watching with a triumphant smile as the freighter zipped out of the hangar.

"Yes!" The Stormtrooper exclaimed, "Yes!"

"Woah, this ship really moves." Poe smiled as he zipped the ship underneath the belly of the ship, dodging blaster fire from the exterior gunners. He furrowed his brow as he concentrated on dodging hits, putting the ship's new hydrogen thrusters to the test.

"Told you." The woman smiled, "I'm not a total idiot."

"Didn't say you were." Poe smirked. He glanced back at the Stormtrooper, who was still manning their weapons, "Hey, what's your name?"

"Who, me?" The Stormtrooper called in reply, "FN-2187."

"F... _What_?"

"It's the only name they gave me."

"FN.... I'm going to call you Finn, is that alright?" Poe shot another glance back to the rogue Stormtrooper.

"Finn?" Gideon could hear the smile in his voice, "Finn. Yeah, I like it!"

Poe jerked the ship around, nearly bringing the whole thing upside down. Gideon swore under her breath as she clung onto the back of Poe's chair as if her life depended on it.

"I'm Poe, Poe Dameron, nice to meet you, Finn." The pilot called.

"My name is Gideon, if anyone cares!" The captain called back, steadying herself as she stood perched just over Poe's shoulder.

"Alright, Finn, see those exterior cannons?" Poe asked, "We need to take as many as those out as possible or we're not going to get very far."

"There are two missiles still left in the barrels." Gideon called back, "Use those."

"Missiles?" Poe shot a glance to the woman, "So what the hell have you been doing since the last time I saw you?"

Taking a seat just behind Poe on the bench, she shrugged, "Oh, you know, the usual. You'll also notice the new shock absorbers in the stabilizers. Just put those in, actually."

"You're amazing, you know that?" He laughed, breaking a hard right so Finn could get a good shot at the cannons. The Stormtrooper sent the missiles, which were able to easily lock onto their target.

"Yeah, I know." She smirked, leaning her head back against the metal wall. Her side twinged in pain again, but she did her best to ignore it, "I just like to hear it come from you."

As the cannons exploded, the Stargazer rode through the smoke and flames, allowing them to come out on the backside of the StarDestroyer, heading straight towards Jakku.

"Yes!" Poe and Gideon high-fived at the victory, "Nice one, Finn!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Finn clapped his hands, "Now, where are we headed?"

"Jakku." Poe explained, "I need to find my droid."

"What? No! We have to get as far away from here as possible." Finn climbed up from the gunners, wiping the sweat from his face with his shirt, "Forget about the droid."

Gideon shook her head, "He's _really_ attached to that droid."

"What?" Poe exclaimed, "No... I just... that droid has something extremely valuable."

"I don't care how valuable it is, it's not worth going back for!"

"He's a BB-8 unit, orange and white, one of a kind." Poe was adamant, "And right now he has a map that leads straight to Luke Skywalker."

" _What_?" Gideon was surprised, "Dameron, how did you-"

"Luke Skywalker?! Are you kidding me!" Finn walked right up to the cockpit, "Poe, if we go to Jakku, we _die_!"

"I've got to get that map before the First Order does, it's too important." Poe shook his head, eyes locked forward. He had gone through too much to just let the map slip through his fingers.

"Tell me he's being crazy." Finn turned to Gideon, who had made herself quite comfortable on the bench. She thought about it for a moment, arms folded across her chest.

In a normal situation, Gideon would have agreed with Finn. She didn't want to get involved in the big war between the First Order and the Resistance. She's always hated being even remotely a part of it.

But after everything that's happen, given the current situation, her personal political opinions didn't matter.

"I agree with Dameron on this." She sighed, "That map is important. We can't just leave it."

Finn, who looked completely exasperated, opened his mouth to say something.

But that was when a missile suddenly plowed into the ship, sending the three escapees hurtling towards the ground inside a damaged freighter.


	14. Lose a Friend, Find a Friend

Heat and sand were two of the things Gideon hated most in life.

And now she was surrounded by it.

The sun shone bright in her eyes as they forced themselves open, dry and crusted from the sand. Her cheeks felt pink with sunburn, her lips cracked and dry from however long she'd been laying out in the middle of the desert.

Once her vision cleared, she realized that Finn was kneeling beside her, shaking her and calling her name.

The woman pushed herself into a sitting position, grimacing from the sore pain in her joints accompanied by the throb of her blaster wound. Finn immediately noticed her moving, letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Gideon, thank goodness." He enveloped her in a hug, "I found you... I thought you were dead."

The captain looked around at the smoking remains from her ship. The Stargazer had been in some really nasty crashes before, but this one topped the cake. Her ship was completely totaled. 

Gideon carefully got to her feet, brushing the sand off of her arms. Standing made her head feel worse, and the stretch in her blaster wound sent a nauseating pain throughout her abdomen. Finn caught her by the elbow as she swayed on her feet, but after a moment of reorienting herself, Gideon didn't need the former Stormtrooper's help.

"Where's Dameron?" She asked, looking around the barren desert for the pilot. Wrapping an arm around her side, she began to walk towards the wreckage to see what she could salvage.

Finn was tense and quiet in her peripheral vision, "I looked everywhere for him-"

"No." She shook her head, her chest tightening, stopping in her tracks. A massive lump rose in her throat as she turned to Finn, her eyes bitter as she shook her head, " _No_."

The defected Stormtrooper took a few steps towards the captain. He reached a hand out towards her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Gideon jolted her shoulder away, shaking her head.

"Gideon-"

"No, he's not-"

"Gideon, he's gone." Finn said shakily, "He must have-"

"Don't say it." Gideon shook her head, "Please."

Her entire body felt numb and stiff, and no matter how much she tried to bring herself closer towards the wreckage of her ship, her legs wouldn't work. Suddenly she didn't feel the sweltering heat of Jakku's deserts, of the sand that had made its way into her boots. Everything felt cold and numb, detached from her body.

Poe Dameron was gone. She couldn't believe it... _no_ , she didn't want to believe it. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Poe Dameron was not supposed to die in a freighter crash, he was too daring and bold to be stopped by that. Hell, Gideon refused to believe that he just decided that a crash was the best way for him to go. He would want to go down fighting some heroic battle in his T-70 like the Battle of Yavin.

"Gideon, we have to go." Finn was tugging her arm, "We don't know if they sent a unit after us."

The woman pulled away her arm, shaking her head, "I can't."

"Why not?" Finn quirked a brow, "Would you rather go back there?"

"At this point... I don't care where I go." She numbly walked towards the ruins of her ship, picking through the smoking remains to find anything that may have survived.

She found her shawl, which was only slightly singed, and a blaster that was half drained. All of her water and rations had burnt up in the crash, and her transmitter was smashed to pieces. Anything they needed for their survival was gone.

Then, crumbled under the pilot's chair, was Dameron's jacket.

Up until that moment, Gideon was hoping she'd turn over a piece of scrap metal and find his head poking out of the sand, waiting for her to find him, or that he'd pop up over a sand dune waving merrily as he explained their next move.

However, as she gripped his jacket carefully, holding it against her chest, she knew that Finn was right.

That Poe Dameron was dead.

She turned away, angrily wiping at the tears that dripped down her cheeks. Storming past Finn, she headed in the direction that she hoped would lead them to town, following the distant path of long abandoned fighter ships and freighters.

"Town is this way." She mumbled, tucking the blaster into her holster, "Come on."

Finn ran to catch up with the captain, who was walking so briskly despite her soreness and injuries it was practically a jog.

"Gideon." Finn called after her, "Slow down."

"Why?" She snapped, "You said it yourself, there could be a unit coming after us right now."

"I know what I said." Finn slid in front of the woman to keep her from walking any further, placing his hands on her shoulders, "But you're upset, and- and you're bleeding, and-"

"And Poe is dead?" She interrupted, her sun-burnt cheeks pebbled with sweat. Her dark eyes were almost glaring at Finn, fighting off her grief and sadness and turning it into rage.

Finn said nothing. He looked guilty, that it was his fault for the predicament they were in. In a way, Gideon could see how it was, but then she remembered that she and Poe would eventually have tried to escape anyways. Instead of just him, they could both be dead.

"I'm sorry." Gideon admitted quietly, "I just..."

"I know." Finn nodded, "It's okay. Let's just... you said town was that way?"

He pointed off towards the ship graveyard.  
Gideon nodded, her eyes squinting against the bright sun. She didn't know how'd they make it to town with no water or supplies, but their only option right now was to keep going.

She had to finish what Poe had started. She had to find his droid and get the map to the Resistance. Gideon owed him that much.

"We need to get to that droid." Gideon said firmly, "For Poe... we have to make sure the First Order doesn't get it."

Finn just nodded, although he wasn't sure it was the best idea if they wanted to stay alive. However, he knew that if he disagreed with Gideon now there was a high possibility that she'd just shoot him and do it herself. Poe seemed to care for this woman, and he wanted to make sure she was okay.

Finn owed him that much.  
  
  


* * *

"Come on, Gideon, we're almost there."

About halfway to Niima Outpost, Gideon's condition worsened. She was terribly dehydrated, and the wound in her side seemed to have partially reopened from the crash. Finn had an arm wrapped around her, practically dragging her into town.

Gideon nodded, her eyes dazed and unfocused from the pain and dizziness of blood loss and dehydration. She couldn't seem to bring herself to speak, her throat feeling cracked and dry.

Both fugitives were a sight to see as they headed into town. Finn was wearing Poe's jacket, which he had used to keep the sun off of his face before Gideon collapsed. He had Gideon leaning on him as he dragged her towards the shabby looking outpost. The captain was stumbling, fighting to stay upright. Despite the pink tinge of sunburn on her cheeks, all color had drained from her face, replaced by a pale, sweaty complexion.

"Water?" Finn asked as he passed by anyone who cast a glance their way, "Does anyone have water?"

His voice was hoarse, but he was practically running with Gideon by his side, desperate to get water for the both of them.

"My friend needs water, please. Does anyone-"

Finn's eyes landed on a large water trough just on the outskirts of the maze of huts and tents surrounding the trading outpost. A large, smelly looking creature was rolling around in it.

However, water was water.

"Gideon, come on."

He practically carried her to the trough, never feeling so tired and desperate in his life than he did in that moment. They were both dehydrated and exhausted. If they didn't get water soon, it was possibly they'd never be able to finish Poe's mission.

Finn set Gideon down beside the trough, leading her against the splintering wood that held in the water. He splashed some onto his face, taking in a few desperate gulps. The water was warm and smelt terrible, tasting like vomit as it surged down his throat. However, he couldn't keep himself from drinking it, so thirsty he didn't care.

Then, he turned to Gideon, splashing some water on her face before he scooped a few handfuls into her mouth.

She coughed a bit, recoiling from Finn as her face twisted in disgust, nearly gagging up the water he just forced her to drink.

"What the hell _is_ that?" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, "Are you trying to poison me?"

"Water." Finn was honestly glad to hear her yell at him, "Just... really nasty water."

Gideon nodded slowly, giving the water trough a questionable look. Even though it was probably the nastiest thing she's ever had to drink, she felt more refreshed.

"Thank you." She twitched her lips upwards in a quick, friendly smile.

She hesitantly took another few sips, trying not to gag as she did so, and then leaned back with a sigh, "We made it to Niima Outpost... maybe we can make a deal with Unkar once we find the droid. We can hitch a ride on a freighter."

"Unkar?" Finn asked, "Who's Unkar?"

Gideon carefully pulled up the hem of her shirt, inspecting her blaster wound as she spoke, "He runs the Outpost. I've done business with him before."

Her bandages were damp with sweat, a small red blotch telling her that some of the hasty stitches Kylo Ren had given her the other day had torn. As she peaked underneath the bandages, she was relieved to find out half of them were still intact.

She unraveled the bandages from the wound, revealing the bloody, stitched gash that ran along the side of her abdomen. Gideon unwrapped the shawl from around her shoulders, wetting a corner in the trough to clean the blood around it.

"Are you sure you should be doing that here?" Finn looked around uneasily, his eyes avoiding Gideon's side.

"Don't look if it makes you uncomfortable." She winced, "Maybe you can look around for the droid?"

"Yeah." Finn nodded, "I can do that."

Gideon tore a long strip from her shawl, tightly wrapping it around her abdomen as a temporary replacement for bandages, "He's an astromech unit, small, orange and white. Probably the cutest droid you'll ever see."

"What are you going to do?" He asked as he brought himself to his feet.

"I'm going to make a deal with Unkar." Gideon sorely got to her feet, "See if I can get us a ride off this dust bowl."

Finn nodded, though he eyed her warily, "Are you okay?"

Gideon let out a dry laugh, "Let's just say that when this is all over... I could really go for a drink."

She shot Finn a look that told him she really didn't want to discuss anything further, knowing what he was getting at. Not even five minutes ago she was practically dead weight. She still felt like dead weight, but the terrible trough water she just gagged down made all the difference.

"I'll buy." Her new friend simply replied.

"Go." Gideon motioned for him to get going, "Try not to draw too much attention to yourself."

As Finn started his search for the droid around town, Gideon headed straight for Unkar's trading post. She was hoping she could strike some sort of deal with him, even if she didn't have anything of value to offer him.

However, as she neared the trading post, she found it shut down. The interior lights were off, the front window closed to deter people from lining up with their scraps of metal to trade. Gideon did a circle around the post, brows furrowed. Where was Unkar?

"Excuse me?" Gideon approached one of the locals, a scruffy looking old man with tattoo markings covering his face, "Where's Unkar? Why's the post closed?"

"He shut down the post after that girl turned down sixty portions." He shook his head in disappointment, "I don't care what the droid is worth, who turns down _sixty_ portions!"

Gideon froze, "Did you say she had a droid?"

The man let out a gruff laugh as he nodded to some trouble stirring up further downtown, "Not for long, it looks like."

The captain followed the man's eyes towards the center of Niima Outpost, just outside Unkar's main post. Immediately she pivoted on her heel, thanking the local with a quick nod before starting towards the commotion.

A girl was being surrounded by a bunch of other scavengers. She looked young, maybe late teens or early twenties, her hair pulled back into three buns. Although she was outnumbered she didn't look intimidated, twirling a long staff around to defend herself.

Just behind her, hiding behind her legs was Dameron's BB unit.

All the way across the outpost from Gideon was Finn slowly approaching the scene, the same curiosity coursing through his veins as hers. How did this girl find the droid in the first place?

Finn and Gideon locked eyes, both nodding to stand by in case the girl needed help, or the droid was taken. The scene playing out in front of them was calm, possessing the usual stillness and silence that happened before a fight.

One of the scavengers threw a canvas tarp over BB-8, letting out a pixelated screech that immediately alerted the girl.

"Oi!" She fought off the scavengers, whacking them around her with staff. When one tried to pick her up, she used the leverage to kick at another one, then used her staff to get back on her feet. It was obvious she's been doing this a long time, fighting smart and scrappy based on what her opponents gave her.

Slowly, Gideon approached, still a few dozen paces out. She was unnoticed by the girl, the droid, or anyone in the fight. Her hand rested on her blaster, fingers tapping against the grip.

The woman turned to the droid after the fight was over, pulling the sack off of him. She knelt down, dusting the sand off as she spoke to him. Gideon found the girl's concern for the droid endearing, reminding her of Poe's attachment to the adorable BB unit.

He died for that droid.

Her heart sank, and the familiar lump had started to rise in her throat. The woman stopped walking for a moment, knowing that if they got ahold of the droid, he was going to ask where his master was. By the book, droids are said to not have feelings. By experience, they have feelings just as much as the rest of the living beings in the galaxy.

The droid, as he beeped contently to the girl, suddenly froze. His eye spun around, falling on Finn as he let out a surprised, angry screech. Gideon could understand droids for the most part, but it didn't take a genius to know what he said.

_Thief!_

The girl's head shot up in Finn'a direction. She stomped to her feet, slowly increasing her walk into a sprinting chase as the defected Stormtrooper turned and ran. The BB unit followed closely behind her.

" _Damn_." Gideon grabbed her blaster from her holster, her other arm wrapped around her abdomen as she took off into a run. Instead of following the direction of her friend, she instead followed the girl. If she was a local, she probably knew her way around the place and would catch Finn sooner than Gideon would.

Finn disappeared quickly into the mass of tents and huts, into the rundown marketplace of Niima Outpost. As Gideon reached the outskirts of the market, she lost the girl as well, heading in the general direction of where she believed the girl went.

A lot of the locals or simple traders passing through were disgruntled as the captain dodged them, muttering about being knocked over or pushed through by an outsider. Some baskets had been knocked over, and a huge bucket full of blaster parts was scattered in the sand. As Gideon passed the mess her friend and the girl had left behind, she tried to get by as politely as she could, calling apologies as she passed anyone who they might have shoved aside.

Then, as Gideon turned the corner, she skid to a halt to keep from toppling over the girl, sand spilling into her boots.

"Hey." She raised her blaster at the girl, who had knocked Finn to the ground by whacking him with her staff, "What's the problem, here?"

BB-8 rolled up to Finn, shocking him with a small electric fork that popped out of a mechanism in his main body unit. The defected Stormtrooper yelped at the shock, which gave satisfaction to the astromech.

"Hey!" Gideon warned, taking a step forward. The girl turned around swiftly to knock the blaster from her fingers, but the captain effectively dodged the move. She took the safety off, the weapon whirring to life as her finger wrapped around the trigger.

"This droid says that he's a thief." She nodded to Finn, "That jacket belongs to his master."

Finn, who had his hands up in defense, slowly lowered them so he could push himself into a sitting position. Gideon lowered her blaster, her lips twitching into a frown.

"Poe Dameron." Finn said, "That was your master's name, right?"

The BB unit nodded, slowly backing away from Finn.

"Poe and I were prisoners." Gideon explained, tucking her blaster back into her belt, "Finn here rescued us."

"We took Gideon's ship. The First Order shot us down." Finn looked to the droid, his lips drawn in a tight line, "Poe didn't make it."

BB-8's head lowered, making a sad beep as he turned and headed away from the three. Gideon closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head as she swallowed the rising lump in her throat. She closed her hands into tight fists to stop their shaking, tucking them under her armpits as she crossed her arms.

"So... you're with the Resistance?" The girl asked, helping Finn to his feet. Her eyes switched from him to Gideon expectantly, a hint of excitement etched on her youthful features.

Gideon shrugged, "Well-"

"Obviously. Yes we are. We're with the Resistance." Finn shot the captain a glance as he dusted the sand off his trousers. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he leaned in closer to the girl, "We are _with_ the Resistance."

"Really?" Her eyes lit up, "I've never met Resistance Fighters before."

Finn shrugged, "Well... this is what we look like."

Gideon rolled her eyes, elbowing her friend sharply, "Well, some of us."

"BB-8 says he's on a secret mission, he has to get back to your base." The girl turned her head, her eyes following the saddened droid as he slowly rolled away.

"Apparently he has a map that leads to Luke Skywalker." The captain explained, eyes narrowing slightly at both the girl's excitement and Finn's apparent urge to please the scavenger.

"Everyone's after it." He added mysteriously.

The girl was completely baffled by the mention of Luke Skywalker. She leaned in a bit closer to Finn and Gideon, her voice dropping down to a curious whisper, " _Luke Skywalker_... I thought he as a _myth_!?

"Not a-" Gideon was interrupted by the alarmed beeping coming from BB-8, who looked to the girl and the two fugitives with a heightened urgency, "What? They're here?"

Her stomach twisted with uneasiness as she reached for her blaster. She took off the safety, gripping it with both hands securely as she followed the girl and Finn. They came towards the edge of the market, where the local Gideon had spoken with a few minutes ago was ratting them out to two Stormtroopers. He pointed to the trio, causing the troopers to turn their bucket-shaped heads over to them.

"Oh no." Gideon started to back away, tugging on the back of Finn's jacket, "Son of a-"

"Hey, what are you doing?!" The girl pulled her hand away from Finn, who had grabbed it to pull her along after Gideon, who had already taken off in a run.

Blaster bolts whizzed past their heads as they took off down the market, just barely missing their targets. Gideon was glad for the notorious inaccuracy of Stormtroopers, not wanting to take another blaster shot anytime soon.

"Come on!" Gideon spun quickly on her heel, firing a few shots in return at their pursuers.

"I know how to run without this one holding my hand!" The girl snapped, shoving her hand away from the former trooper, who was continuously trying to grab it as they ran.

"Finn." The captain shot him a look, "Not a good time for romantic heroics, here."

They ducked under a large tent once the blaster fire at them had halted. Gideon rested her hands on her knees, taking in a few deep breaths. Her heart was pounding in her ears from the fear and exertion.

"They're firing at all of us." The girl breathed, adjusting her grip on her staff, "Including me."

"You're marked." Finn was sifting through a bin of rusted ship parts and blaster shells with a bitter look on his face, "Are there any blasters around here?"

"Mine's almost out." Gideon sighed, wiping the sweat that continuously pebbled her forehead with the back of her hand, "We can't just sit here, they'll call an-"

"Airstrike." Finn shushed the captain with a finger to his lips, looking at the moving shadows appearing in the worn fabric of the tent above their heads. The girl slowly stood up, sending a wary look to both Finn and Gideon.

"Hurry!" Finn grabbed both the scavenger's and Gideon's hands, pulling them away from the marketplace.

"Stop taking my hand!" The girl grumbled.

Gideon looked behind her as they exited the cover of the tent, checking to see if Dameron's droid was still with them. She sighed with relief, briefly watching him roll along beside their legs before she turned her focus back to what was in front of her.

A TIE fighter shot a few rounds down at the market, just barely missing the fugitives. The impact of the blast sent them all flying several feet forward. Sand was everywhere, Gideon's blaster slipping from her hands in the mess, the screams of the townspeople bouncing around in her ears.

This was why she did not like getting involved in this mess. Too many innocent people got hurt, too many lives at stake. Even if it was mostly illegal, Gideon missed her trading business.

She landed roughly on her stomach, skidding a few feet before coming to a halt. A groan escaped her lips as a sour pain radiated up across her abdomen from the aggravation of the wound.

"Ow." Gideon mumbled, flipping over onto her back to relief some of the pain. She coughed a few times, wiping the sand from her eyes to see where her new friends had landed.

She saw the girl crawl up to Finn just a few feet to her left, helping him to his feet. Carefully Gideon pushed herself into a standing position, grimacing from the soreness stretching along her side, the stitches pulling irritably on her inflamed skin.

"Finn." She gave his arm a quick squeeze as they approached, letting him know that she was glad he was alright.

"I have a plan, follow me." The girl said to Gideon, their eyes locking in a brief moment of understanding, "BB-8, stay close!"

 _I'm trying_! The droid sassed as the three took off in a sprint for what seemed like the third time that day, vulnerable to the TIE Fighter's attacks.

The girl was headed for the starship graveyard, just on the outskirts of Niima Outpost. Gideon fought to keep up with her and Finn, trailing them just by a foot or two. One of her hands was protectively wrapped around her stomach, the blaster wound throbbing with each step she took.

"We can't... we can't outrun them." She wheezed, sending a worried look up at the TIE Fighters coming behind them.

"We can." The girl nodded to a ship ahead, "In that quad jumper."

"We need a pilot!" Finn argued in between desperate gasps of air.

"You got one!" Gideon and the girl shouted at the same time, sending the other a quick glance at the timing of their response.

"What about that one?" Finn nodded to a freighter that was much closer than the ship the scavenger was headed to. Gideon turned to look at the ship, and immediately skidded to a halt.

She knew that ship.

"That one's garbage!" The girl called back, "Come on!"

Gideon shook her head, "Not garbage... definitely not garbage."

As the quad jumper was blown up by the enemy TIE's, Gideon immediately took off to the freighter.

She knew that ship.

"Garbage it is."


	15. I Know This Ship

"Oh my god."

Gideon stopped right in the middle of the ship, looking around like she was reliving a memory from a past life. Her sweaty hands, resting on her knees as she fought to catch her breath, trembled from both her exhaustion and melancholic reminiscence.

"Gideon." Finn grabbed her shoulder and gently pulled her towards him, "What's the matter? Are you okay?"

The captain waved him off, nodding, "I'm fine. The gunners are down there."

She headed to the cockpit, taking a seat in the copilot chair next to the scavenger girl, who was already trying to bring the ship to life.

"Have you flown this thing before?" Gideon asked, strapping herself in before getting to work.

"No, this thing hasn't flown in years." The girl breathed, "You?"

Gideon shrugged, "That depends."

The freighter spun around as the two girls quickly worked the rusted controls.

"What?" The girl sent the captain a quick look, "You've been on here before?"

"Yeah." Gideon pushed up on the controls, sending the ship high into the air.

"No!" Finn called from the gunners, "Go low! It messes with their tracking!"

The captain reached over and pushed down on the controls, the ship jerking downwards towards the desert. BB-8 was tumbling all around the ship, rolling around whenever the ship gave a slight movement.

"Going low." The girl called, "Hang on BB-8!"

"I'm Gideon." The captain said to the girl, "Gideon Oswald."

"Rey." The scavenger called back.

"Nice to meet you, Rey." Gideon nodded to her, "Now how did you learn to pilot a ship?"

Rey kept her gaze fixed on the controls and the terrain ahead of her. Since she was in the head pilot's chair, she had most of the navigation controls. Gideon prayed that she knew what she was doing.

The ship shuddered, taking a few hits from the TIEs that were chasing them. Gideon swore under her breath, the stabilizers already rusted and damaged for years without use. She needed to run damage control, and quickly.

Quickly she got up, clinging onto the wall as Rey maneuvered the ship around a large sand dune. 

"Where are you going?" She called, "I need a copilot!"

Gideon pried off a control panel from the wall, where wires and circuits were sparking uncontrollably. She stuck her hands in there, doing her best to control the damage already done to the ship.

"Damage control." The captain called, "We won't get very far if we keep taking damage."

She looked to the hyperdrive with a furrowed brow, "We also need to get this thing into hyperspace as quickly as possible."

Rey nodded, whispering a few mantras to herself as her hands flew around the controls, "Alright."

The ship shuddered again, causing several of the controls to blink, beeping in alarm.

"Finn, what are you doing back there?!" Gideon called, her voice thick with annoyance, "Shoot them back!"

"I'm trying to!" The former Stormtrooper called back, "We need cover!"

The ship took a hard left, flipping onto its side. Gideon gripped the side of the copilot's chair with white knuckles, her sandy boots struggling to keep their grip on the floor.

"Cover's coming." Rey assured them, "Hopefully."

Once the ship righted itself, Gideon took off a little ways behind the cockpit, scooping up discarded tools as she went. Her heart was racing, her hands trembling as she worked, trying to focus on fixing their only way off Jakku.

She knew this ship.

_"When can Dad start teaching me how to fly?"_

_She was sitting in the freighter's lounge, eating lunch with her mother. Her eyes traveled marvelously around the ship's interior. Her view of the ship was dramatically different than it was when she was younger. The different parts, the controls, the feeling of flying around at high speeds... it was all she could think about._

_"Well." Her mother shrugged, reaching over to tuck a loose curl away from the child's face, "That isn't up to me, honey."_

She got up, heading over to the cockpit, where her father and her uncle were casually piloting them home.

_"Dad?" She gave a dramatic pout of her lip, her eyelashes batting themselves, "When can you start teaching me how to fly?"_

_Her father turned to look at her, narrowing his brows in an air of fake suspicion, "I thought you hated flying?"_

_"No." She shook her head, "You thought wrong."_

_"I'm never wrong." He playfully retorted back, ruffling her daughter's long mess of curls, "That is, until your mother says that I am."_

_Her uncle gave a quick laugh at her father, elbowing him in the side._

_She laughed, sending a look to her mother, who was watching the scene with the utmost amusement._

_"Well, I like flying." She focused back on the subject, "I told you, I want to be a pilot just like you."_

_"Oh, do you, now?" Her father nodded, "Well, what have I always told you is the most important thing to keep in mind when you even set foot inside a ship?"_

_The girl shrugged, "Don't push a button if you don't know what it does?"_

_"No."_

_"Never run with tools?"_

_"Yes, but no."_

_Her mother wrapped a comforted hand around her shoulder, "Always keep calm."_

"Keep calm." Gideon ran a hand down her face, taking in a deep breath in an attempt to relax herself, "Keep calm. I can do this."

_I believe in you!_ Dameron's droid called cheerfully in an attempt to cheer up the captain, who was fighting to keep her focus. The stress of the last few days was obviously weighing down on her, and was picking this moment to interfere with her trying to fix the damage done to the freighter.

"Thank, bud." She turned, sending a comforted nod to the droid before getting back to work, "I'm just.. a little overwhelmed, is all."

She let out a long, grounding sigh. She knew how to do this, she'd been living on the Stargazer for practically years. Freighters, although different sizes, were practically the same.

"Gideon are you almost done?" Rey called, "We need to transfer all auxiliary power to the thrusters so we can get out of here!"

The woman shot her head up, immediately heading to the cockpit.

"This ship has been through the wringer." She told the girl, "I need time to-"

"We don't have time." Rey shook her head, "Finn and I were able to lose them, but they'll come back."

Gideon took a moment to think, her eyes scanning all of the controls. Quickly she did what Rey had initially called her in to do, using a wrench to pull one of the levers that were stiff with rust.

"Okay." She nodded, "I'm going to do something stupid, but it'll work. Get us out of here the moment I tell you to, okay?"

Rey just stared as Gideon took her wrench, shoving it straight into one of the control panels. She quickly whipped her arm away as sparks crackled through the metal tool, but then turned to the girl with an urgent look.

"Now!"

"Why did you do that?" Rey called as she activated the thrusters, which were now boosted with extra power.

Gideon climbed into the chair next to her, gripping the edges of her seat with a small smile, watching the dull blue sky slowly turn into the dark, starry wonder of space.

"This ship hasn't flown in years." Gideon sighed, "I used the wrench as a conductor, which converted the shield generator into power, which then boosted the reaction time of the thrusters."

"You bypassed the shields?" Rey let out a quick laugh, "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Dameron." She said, her voice quieter than she'd like it to be, "A long time ago."

As soon as they had left the system, Rey put the ship on autopilot. Both girls exited the cockpit, meeting Finn in the middle of the ship.

"That was amazing!" Finn high-fived the both of them, "Did you see that?!"

"I've flown ships before, but never like that!" They were talking at the same time, giddy and excited from their escape.

"-and then we went in the StarDestroyer-"

"-and Gideon was just like 'let me shove this wrench into the ship' and it _worked_ -"

"I can't believe we-"

"- most exciting thing I've ever-"

Gideon laughed, turned to the BB unit as he slowly rolled into the conversation. She checked to make sure he was alright from the bumpy ride.

"You okay?" She asked him, a small smile on her lips from her friends' exuberant conversations.

_Are we going to get back?_ He asked quietly, bumping into Gideon's leg with bit of worry.

"To your base?" Gideon bit her lip, "Yes. We'll get you there, we'll _all_ get you there. I promise."

* * *

"Gideon, what did you do?!" Rey pulled up a smoking grate in the floor, jumping to analyze the situation.

"Me?" The woman stood over, peering down at the girl, "What-"

"You were on damage control!" Finn added.

Gideon joined Rey, trying to assess what was wrong with the freighter. She ran a hand down her face with one hand, the other waving at the smoke prohibiting her from seeing what was damaged.

"I'm sorry, I'm only _one_ person." She defended herself, her voice raised in agitation, "I can't be in two places at once, this ship has years of wear and tear that requires-"

"I found the problem." Rey poked her head up, "It's the motivator. Hand me that wrench there, _now_ , Finn."

"Is it bad?" Finn tossed her the wrench.

"Well, if we want to live, yeah." The girl replied, "Gideon, I've got this."

"You don't need my help?" She asked, sifting around the tools for another wrench.

"I don't need you to shove a wrench into anything else." Rey replied, sending the woman a friendly smile, "Check on the hyperdrive. We need to be able to get out of this system as soon as possible."

Gideon nodded, climbing up out of the grate, "Well, it would help if I knew where we're going."

Rey popped her head up, "You don't know where your base is?"

Finn sent Gideon a look. He didn't want Rey to know that he used to be a Stormtrooper and that he wasn't in the Resistance. Gideon protested with a nod to the droid, who was the only one who knew the actual location of the Resistance's base.

"I was a prisoner of the First Order just as we were evacuating from our last base. If they changed the location, I couldn't know." Gideon lied quickly, "Wouldn't want to give it away."

Rey narrowed her eyes briefly at the captain before turning to Finn, "Well, where is it? BB-8 told me it's on a need to know basis, and if I'm going to get you there then I need to know."

The scavenger ducked back down, obviously more concerned about the leaking motivator.

"Finn." Gideon whispered, "You have to tell her."

"No!" Finn shook his head, "I-"

_Tell her what?_ Poe's astromech chimed in.

Gideon opened her mouth to speak, but Finn quickly scooted over and covered her mouth.

"Look." Finn turned his head to BB-8, "I'm not part of the Resistance. I'm just trying to get as far away from the First Order as possible. As soon as I get you to the base, I'm gone."

"BB-8, look at me." Gideon shoved Finn's hand off of her mouth, "Poe and I are... _were_ friends. We trusted each other with our lives, and I-"

Her eyes landed on Poe's jacket that Finn was still wearing. She didn't want to say too much or risk falling into a hole of grief she did not have the strength to pull herself out of at the moment. If she started now, she wouldn't stop.

"I made a promise on Jakku that I would finish what he started, and that means getting you back to the Resistance." She reached out and patted the head of the astromech as an act of comfort, "We need the location, bud, _please_."

As Gideon leaned back on her heels, she gave a promising look to both Finn and the BB unit. Her eyes were pricked with tears, but she hid them well, masking her grief for Poe with the hope of completing the mission and making sure his death wasn't in vain.

"So where's the base?" Rey popped her head up again, startling everyone above the grate from their somber moment. She looked from Gideon to Finn expectantly, obviously oblivious to the conversation they just had.

_The Ileenium system_! BB-8 fessed up after a pleading look from Finn. Gideon nodded, getting to her feet to input the information into the hyperdrive. Once she repaired it, they'd be on their way.

"The Ileenium system?" Rey repeated with a huff, "That's far."

"Not that far." Gideon called from the cockpit, taking off the side panel of hyperdrive, revealing a mess of wires and rusted bolts, "I can get us there in about two hours."

"Why, you got somewhere to be?" Finn asked questionably.

"I've got to get back to Jakku." Rey explained. There was the familiar strained longing in her voice, one that Gideon was all too familiar with, especially when she was aboard this ship.

Did she have family waiting for her?

"Why does everyone want to go _back_ to Jakku?!" Gideon chuckled at Finn's dramatics, his exasperated tone echoing down the hall.

"I've got to get back." Rey repeated, sounding as if she really didn't want to talk about it. Even when she was in a separate room of the ship, Gideon was well aware not to push the subject.

"You have a boyfriend back on Jakku? A-a cute boyfriend?"

"No."

"Okay."

The two went on like that, bickering back and forth as Rey was trying to keep the ship from flooding with poisonous gas. Gideon just listened with a small smile, using the happy feeling their petty argument brought her to concentrate on her work.

It didn't occur to her that the last time she argued with someone like that it was with her best friend. Well... her longest friend. She didn't exactly know what to call their friendship.

_"What the hell are you doing Dameron?" Gideon whispered as she caught up to the pilot. He was crouching underneath a speeder, trying to jerk the ride to life without the need of a key or passcode._

_"Getting us a ride." He patted the seat next to him, "Can you cover us?"_

_"Why do I always have to shoot?"_

_"You're the better shot, I'm the better pilot."_

_"This is a speeder, Poe! And you know I'm a damn good pilot." Gideon rolled her eyes, turning in her seat to get a better view of their distant pursuers, "I have my own ship."_

_"I went to Flight Academy."_

_"Oh would you shut up about Flight Academy!"_

"Gideon, come on, we need to hide."

The woman was jerked out of her thoughts by Rey tugging onto her arm, pulling her away from the half repaired hyperdrive. Gideon stiffened in alarm, having not noticed that they had been locked in by a tractor beam.

"What?" The captain blinked a few times to clear her head, Poe's voice still echoing in her mind, "Who's-"

"First Order." The color had drained a bit from Finn's face, already breaking into a nervous sweat, "They found us."

Gideon's eyes widened, her hand reaching up to brush her temple, the fear of being locked in an interrogation room again seized her by the throat. However conflicted she was about seeing her brother again, she wasn't sure she wanted him to rake through her mind again and torture her.

Rey handed her a gas mask, "We're going to wait for them to come onboard and then flood the ship with poisonous gas."

"You're going to overrun the motivator?" They climbed into the grate on the floor, BB-8 already inside, "Didn't you fix that?"

"I can unfix it." Rey nodded confidently, pulling the gas mask over her face. Gideon followed suit, pulling the grate back over their heads just as the bay doors released their air-right lock.

The captain brought her knees to her chest, looking worriedly to Finn and Rey as heavy, quick footsteps echoed above their heads. As clever as Rey's plan was, there was a high probability they'd be found before the Stormtroopers died from the gas.

Just as the footsteps passed over their heads, the group could see that there were two life forms who boarded the ship. Were they scouts checking the area to see if it was safe? Gideon knew Stormtroopers usually traveled in pairs, but these footsteps weren't as uniform as theirs, and from what she could see they weren't wearing the usual white armor.

"Wait." Gideon whispered, holding up a hand to keep Rey from completing the plan. The captain carefully brought herself to her knees, pushing up on the grate just slightly so she could peek through.

"Chewie... we're home."

The woman sharply took a breath, surprise causing her to jump back and cause the grate to slam into the ground. Her eyes just stared up at where the two had been previously staring, unsure if she should be glad or upset... or both.

"Nice going." Finn shot the woman a look as the two pairs of footsteps turned around, their ingenious hiding spot suddenly found. The three stowaways, plus BB-8, held their breath. Rey and Finn grabbed the biggest tools they could find, readying for a fight.

Gideon just stared, her brows knitted together in confusion as the grate was lifted, and light flooded into their little hole in the floor.

"What the hell are you kids doing?"

They all still wore their gas masks, which explained why the two smugglers above them didn't recognize them. Gideon was the first to stand up, taking off the mask as she turned to them.

"Hi, Dad."


	16. Good to See You Again

Han Solo and Chewbacca stared at the young captain in disbelief, saying nothing as she climbed out of the grate.

"It's been awhile." She added, trying to hide the smile that played on her lips. Gideon hadn't seen her father since she ran away from home, and even then he'd come and go for months at a time. She was a teenager the last time they really had a conversation.

"Dalia." Han said quietly, still not believing his eyes. He tucked his blaster back into its respective holster, his eyes not leaving his daughter's. She was different since the last time he saw her, weathered by years of being on her own. However, her eyes still held the sweet, curious look of his little girl.

"You've grown up."

Gideon let out a small laugh, "Had to happen sometime."

Han looked to her friends, who were watching the reunion from the grate with eyes widened and mouth agape, "Who are they? How'd you find this ship? Who's the pilot?"

"I'm the pilot." Rey and Gideon said at the same time. The scavenger exchanged a look with the captain, obviously curious about her relationship with the man in front of them, "We're the only ones on board."

Chewbacca looked to Han, " _Where did they get our ship_?"

"Niima Outpost." Rey answered quickly, climbing out of the grate.

"You can understand that thing?" Finn asked as he climbed out, eyeing the Wookie suspiciously.

Gideon nudged Finn in the arm, "He can understand you, too. Be nice."

"Jakku." Han looked to Rey and Gideon with a roll of his eyes, "That junkyard? See, Chewie, I told you we should have checked the Western regions. Who had it?"

"We stole it." Rey answered, "From Unkar Plutt. He stole it from the Irving Boys who stole it from Dukane, who-"

"Who stole it from _me._ " Han interjected, "Well you can tell Unkar that Han Solo stealing back the Millennium Falcon. For good."

Rey looked to Gideon, " _This_ is the Millennium Falcon?" Her eyes excitedly went to Han's, " _Your_ Han Solo?!"

Han looked around the worn and beaten ship, turning away to look at the rest of his former home. Briefly he looked to Gideon, almost disappointed to see her there.

"I used to be." He sighed, disappearing down the hall. Gideon's eyes fell, a thick guilt starting to eat away at her. Instinctively her arm wrapped around her side, her bandages damp from sweat and the water she cleaned the wound with. The wound throbbed in beat with her heart as she slowly started to walk after her father.

"Han Solo, the war General?" Finn asked, looking to Chewbacca for the answer.

"No, Han Solo, the smuggler." Rey rolled her eyes, "Didn't you make the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs?"

Gideon cringed at the misinformation, knowing how proud her father still was at that accomplishment.

"Twelve!" He called back matter-of-factly.

"Wasn't he a war hero?" Finn asked, looking to Gideon.

The woman shrugged, "You could say that."

Rey approached the captain with narrowed eyes, "Is Han Solo your father?"

"Have you been lying to us?" Finn added into the line of questions, copying Rey's interrogative look.

Gideon pinched the bridge of her nose, sending a brief resigned look to her Uncle Chewie. She knew the moment she saw Dameron on the First Order StarDestroyer she was going to be roped back into this.

"I haven't lied to you." She sighed, "I changed my name to Gideon Oswald when I was eighteen..."

" _When you left home_." Chewbacca added with a small huff of disappointment, " _After the Battle of Bulvan_."

The captain stiffened at the mention of the battle, her hands curling into fists to manage the guilt and frustration building in her chest. She didn't want to bring up the Battle of Bulvan... she hadn't spoken of it in years.

"Yes." She slowly nodded, not meeting her friends in the eyes, "That was around the last time I'd seen or heard from my dad."

"Which we need to discuss, young lady." Han shot the woman a look as he walked back into the hall where the four were gathered, "Now, which one of you put a compressor on the ignition line? And why is there a wrench in the shield generator?"

"Unkar did." Rey answered, "I thought it was a mistake too, because it puts-"

"Too much pressure of the hyperdrive." She and Han answered together. They shared a brief moment of mild understanding.

Then, Han turned to Chewbacca, "Chewie, throw these guys in a pod and we'll drop them off at the nearest inhabited planet."

Gideon's eyes widened, catching up to her father quickly, "Dad, we can't. We need this ship."

"Find another ship, Dalia." Han shook his head.

The captain grabbed her father's arm, turning him so that he was facing her. She looked up at him, their matching dark eyes having a staring match.

"We need to deliver this astromech unit to the Resistance in the Ileenium system." She said quickly, "This droid has the map to Luke Skywalker."

Han was silent, his shoulders losing the tenseness they were previously carrying. With a small sigh, he gently took Gideon's hand off of his arm.

"You are the Han Solo who fought with the Rebellion." Finn observed, greatly impressed, "You knew him?"

The smuggler let out a dry laugh, his eyes reliving past memories as they scanned over the three young adults. His eyes stopped on his daughter again, who he always thought possessed the same determination and stubbornness as her mother.

"Yeah, I knew him." He nodded, "I knew Luke."

There was a hint of indifference in his voice towards the Jedi. Gideon knew he blamed himself for sending Ben away, and also had some sort of repressed anger for Luke for not being able to keep his son from aligning with the Dark Side.

"Dad." Gideon brought back his focus, "We need-"

Just then, the alarms of the freighter around them sounded. Han's attention was drawn from his daughter as he quickly bolted for the bay doors.

"Chewie, the Rathtars!" He called to the Wookie, which earned a groan from Chewbacca.

"Rathtars?" Gideon repeated, right on her father's heals, "Please tell me you don't have Rathtars in here."

The Millennium Falcon appeared to be parked in the hangar of a giant cargo freighter, ten times the size of any one that Gideon's ever been on. The place was crowded with crates and boxes, and in the distance she could hear the screeching hisses of the horrifying creatures.

"I'm keeping Rathtars here." Han sighed as he read the ship's scanners. He flipped to the surveillance cameras, where a smaller freighter was boarding.

"It's the Guavian Death Gang." Gideon read from over her father's shoulder, causing the smuggler to turn the screen away from her.

"They must have tracked us from Pantoon." He motioned for the three to follow him.

BB-8 beeped nervously at Gideon's feet, sending a look to the woman that she read as nerves. The captain sighed, sending a quick look at the scanners before jogging to catch up with her father and Chewbacca.

"What's a Rathtar?" Rey asked as they turned the corner, her face scrunched in confusion. They were headed deeper into the ship, away from where the Guavian Death Gang was boarding the freighter.

"They're big and they're dangerous." Han called over his shoulder.

"You ever heard of the Trillia Massacre?" Finn asked the scavenger.

"No."

"Good." Gideon murmured, "How many are there on board?"

"I've got three of them going to King Prunner." Han shrugged casually.

" _Three_?" Finn exclaimed from Gideon's left, "How'd you manage to get them on the ship?"

Chewbacca let out a resigned grunt as he and the former General exchanged knowing looks, "There used to be a bigger crew."

The Wookiee opened a hatch at Gideon's feet, revealing a small maintenance tunnel. Han nodded his head towards the hatch, motioning for the three to get in.

"You guys can hide in here. Be quiet, and don't even think about taking the Falcon." He instructed.

"What about the droid?" Gideon asked, the BB unit still at the captain's heels.

"The droid stays with me."

"Then I'm staying with the droid." The young woman argued back, "BB-8 is not leaving my sight until we set foot on the Resistance Base,  
I made a promise."

Han took a step towards his daughter, assuming his fatherly instincts, "This isn't up for discussion, Dalia. The Guavian Death Gang is dangerous."

Gideon rolled her eyes, folding her arms over her chest as she stood by the astromech, unmoving. Her eyes locked with Han's glaring at him almost coldly. She hadn't seen him for over seven years, and even then their relationship had grown somewhat distant. Why did he decide that now was a good time to suddenly be fatherly?

"I'm not a little girl, anymore, you can't decide what's best for me." She spat, "I'm staying with the droid."

" _Just let her stay with us. They're coming_." Chewie reasoned with his best friend, keeping a wary eye on the hallway behind them.

"Fine." Han shook his head, "You can stay with the droid. Don't say a word to them, got it?"

Gideon said nothing, watching as her friends climbed into the maintenance tunnel below them.

"What are you going to do to get rid of them?" Rey asked the man, her eyes widened in concern. It was obvious she had taken a liking to him now that she knew he was the infamous Han Solo she'd heard so many stories about.

"The same thing I always do." He shrugged, "Talk my way out of it."

" _That doesn't always work_." Chewie sassed, shaking his head at the smuggler with an unapologetic smirk.

"Yes, it does! Every time!" Han called in defense, "When has it not?"

" _That time on Tatooine-_ "

"Let's go." Gideon shut the hatch, securing her friends' hiding place, "They're here."

BB-8 let out a few nervous beeps, keeping behind the woman as she followed Han Solo and Chewbacca out into the main corridor. Her eyes wandered to the extra blaster at her father's hip, and immediately reached a hand out to grab it.

Han swiped the woman's hand away, "No."

"But they're the Guavian _Death_ Gang." Gideon reasoned, "I need to be able to defend myself and BB-8."

" _I can defend myself!_ " The droid beeped, bumping her in the leg.

"I know, bud, but just in case." She gave his head a quick pat, "I promised, remember?"

Before her father could argue his case, the doors in front of them opened to reveal the gang in question. Gideon quirked a brow, folding her arms defensively across her chest as she watched them enter.

All of them wore masks except for one, who Gideon immediately recognized as Bala-Tik. She did her best to hide her mischievous smirk, knowing the last time she'd seen him she beat the crap out of him and swindled him for 10,000 credits. It was payback for him losing the cargo she delivered to him for Brandy, a few dozen orders of spice for her side hustle.

Then she realized the hot water she was  
probably in. Bala-Tik was one of Brandy Helm's close associates. If the woman still held a grudge over the woman for what happened a few days ago, it might get in the way of Han trying to settle.

"Han Solo." Bala-Tik glared at the smuggler, "You're a dead man."

"Bala-Tik." Han assumed a light demeanor, offering a light laugh as he lifted his arms up in a greeting, "What seems to be the problem?"

"The problem is we loaned you fifty-thousand for this job." The leader of the gang started, "We also heard you borrowed fifty-thousand from Kanjiklub."

"You know you can't trust those little freaks!" Han reasoned, "Come on, how long have we known each other?"

"We want our money back." Bala-Tik narrowed his eyes, "Now."

"You think hunting Rathtars is easy? I spent that money." The smuggler said.

Gideon could feel the astromech at her feet roll just between her heels, pressing up against her calves. She kept her eyes focused on the Guavian Death Gang, trying to formulate some sort of plan to get them out of here. She knew if they were aligned with Helm, then they were aligned with the First Order. If they recognized her or the droid... they'd be done for.

Maybe she really should have stayed with Rey and Finn. There were other BB units out there to be recognized as the one at her heels, but only one Gideon to be found. However, she wasn't going to let the droid out of her sight. She made a promise to Poe on Jakku, and she was going to honor it.

"Kanjiklub wants their investments back, too." Bala-Tik informed the trio.

"I never made a deal with Kanjiklub!" Han lied, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Tell that to Kanjiklub."

The airlock behind them opened to reveal the Kanjiklub gang stepping into the corridor. It was obvious they came to ambush Han and take the Rathtars. Gideon took a step to the side, turning her head to get a look at the other death gang.

"Tasu Leech." Han chucked nervously, "It's good to see you."

" _Wrong. It is over for you Han Solo_." Tasu grinned, pointing his blaster at the smuggler to intimidate the man.

They were vastly outnumbered and outgunned at this point. Gideon had only heard rumors of the Kanjiklub, but she knew what the Guavian Death Gang was capable of. If her father couldn't talk his way out of this, which at this point seemed very unlikely, they'd be dead meat.

"Boys, you're both going to get what you wanted." Han reasoned, switching his gaze back and forth between the two gangs, "Have I ever not delivered for you before?"

"Yeah." Bala-Tik deadpanned.

" _Twice_." Tasu added.

Han sent a hasty look to Chewie, who reluctantly nodded in agreement to what the leader of the Kanjiklub had accused them of.

"What was the second time?" He asked in an attempt to buy himself time, but neither of the death gangs were in the mood for conversation.

"Your games are old, Solo. There's no one left in the galaxy for you to swindle." Bala-Tik continued.

" _Nowhere left to hide_!" Tasu Leech chided.

Gideon let out a small sigh, which mistakingly drew attention for herself. She assumed her usual hardened, confident gaze as her eyes looked up to meet the Guavian Death Gang leader.

"Gideon Oswald." He mused, "Don't tell me you're here to swindle us, too."

"Gideon?" Han whispered to the woman, not knowing she had taken on _that_ alias.

She shook her head at her father as she slowly took a step forward, a small smirk playing on her lips.

"Bala." She let out a dry laugh, the humor not reaching her eyes, "You look ten thousand credits cheaper since the last time we met... tell me, how's the leg?"

Bala-Tik tightened the grip on his blaster, the poke at his loss to her angering him. However, after a quick moment of composing himself, he matched her dry enthusiasm and arrogance.

"Helm has a huge price on your head, Gideon." He said to her, "Though... not one as big as the one the First Order just sent out."

Gideon shrugged, "What can I say? I'm a popular girl."

"Well, the First Order is looking for a droid just like the one you've got there." He slowly twitched his mouth into a conniving smile, "Along with you and two other fugitives."

The captain did her best to hide her nerves,  
"Really? Are you sure?" She feigned surprise.

"First I've heard of it." Han added, though he sent a look to his daughter that suggested he wanted to talk more about her involvement with Helm and the gang later.

" _Search the freighter_." Tasu ordered his men.

"Kill them, get Oswald and the droid." Bala-Tik cocked his gun, taking the safety off and pointing it at the trio.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Han muttered to his daughter.

Gideon turned, trying to find a way to escape to the Falcon, "Yeah? So do you."

Just as she was about to engage in a fight with the death gang, the echoing screech of the Rathtars filled the corridor. Behind them, one of the creatures managed to escape its cage, overrunning the Kanjiklub in its attack.

Another Rathtar broke into the hall behind Bala-Tik and his men, its tentacles trying to reach out and grab them. A few of the gang members were dragging into his large mouth with a desperate, pained scream.

"Go!" Han grabbed Gideon's arm and pulled her down a hallways away from the two monsters, Chewbacca at his side with his crossbow raised in defense.

"BB-8, stay close!" She called to the droid, who was rolling quickly at her feet.

As they turned the corner, they were met with two gang members, hiding from the Rathtars. Gideon took a few steps ahead of her father, decking one of them across the face.

The man turned to strike back, but Gideon smartly swiped at his legs, sending him roughly to the ground. As she shook out her fist, her eyes switching from Chewie to her father in question of their next move, a Rathtar turned the corner and headed straight for them.

Han grabbed the other gang member by the collar, shoving him towards the tentacle-clad creature as bait. However, the Rathtar was smart, and had many long and slimy tentacles to attack them with.

Gideon shoved the astromech in front of her with her foot as they took off down the hall, not wanting him to fall behind and get eaten. Tentacles were reaching out for them, curling around the walls to try and trap them.

"Come on." Han called to his daughter, "Chewie, cover her-"

The woman was grabbed by the ankle, the Rathtar smacking her into the side of the ship. Gideon made hard contact with wall, her healing blaster wound sending a sharp, hot pain throughout her torso. Her whole body radiated a dull ache from being thrown around.

"Dalia!"

Gideon grabbed onto a pipe, her knuckles white as she tried to keep the monster from dragging her any closer to its giant, ugly mouth. Her face was twisted in discomfort, her hands straining to keep a solid grip even though her hands were clammy and slick with sweat.

Chewie roared, shooting a few rounds at the tentacle wrapped around Gideon's legs. The flesh was severed from the host, and the young woman was dropped to the ground.

"Thanks, Chewie." She groaned, her eyes glassy as her torso throbbed sharply from her newly torn stitches.

"Are you okay?" Han helped her up to her feet, his eyes furrowed in deep concern, "Are you hurt?"

With an arm wrapped around her side, she simply nodded her head, "I'm fine, let's get back to the ship."

" _This way_!" Chewbacca motioned to another hallway, " _The Falcon is just past this door_."

Han still had a grip on Gideon's arm, pulling it over his shoulder to support her as they ran towards the airlock.

"Cover me so I can get these doors open." Han instructed Chewie. Gideon pulled away from her father, her eyes going to the blaster at his hip.

"Can I-"

"No."

" _Hurry up, there's more_!" Chewie yelled over his shoulder, shooting a few rounds from his crossbow at the approaching death gang members.

"Give me a blaster." Gideon reasoned, "Or let me-"

One of the gang members managed to land a shot on Chewie, causing the Wookiee to let out a roar of pain as he fell to his knees.

"Chewie!" Han called, rushing to his lifelong friend's aid.

Quickly Gideon grabbed the crossbow from him, sending a swift few blasts at their attackers. She hit her targets before turning to the doors, blasting the keypad beside them in order to get them to open. Her father took the weapon from her afterwards, using it to make sure the hangar was clear before they proceeded.

"Are you okay?" Han asked the Wookiee as he helped him to his feet. They rushed through the doors, into the hangar where the Millennium Falcon was waiting for them.

" _I'm okay_." Chewbacca moaned, giving the smuggler a reassuring nod.

"Gideon!"

The captain turned her head to see Finn and Rey rushing towards them, seeming unharmed from the squabble. Relief washed over her features as they joined the trio and astromech unit.

"Thank god you're okay." She sighed, reaching over to give their arms a quick squeeze of comfort, her smile grateful for their company.

"You get the doors." Han pointed to Rey. His eyes then fell on Finn, "You and... and _Gideon_ here help with Chewie."

Gideon got on the other side of the Wookiee, helping him up the bay doors and into the Falcon. She turned her head back to her father.

"And you?"

Han followed them up into the ship, heading towards the cockpit.

"I'm going to get us out of here."


	17. Maz's Place

"Uncle Chewie, please just stay still."

" _Uncle_ Chewie?" Finn turned to the captain, " _Uncle_?!"

The Wookiee had been trying to strangle Finn ever since they boarded the ship, angered and frustrated not only by the pain he was in... but because Finn could be a little overdramatic.

"Yes." Gideon turned to him, "Now are you going to help me or not? Keep his arm still."

"I'm trying." Finn sighed, "But he's trying  
To kill me!"

" _He's being insulting_!" Chewie hollered, " _I could rip his_ -"

"Hey." Gideon turned to the Wookiee with a warning glance, "No ripping arms off today. Finn saved my life, okay? Now he's trying to help you."

She grabbed the medicine from First Aid, uncapping the small needle. Once she injected Chewie, it would alleviate most of the pain and start the healing process. It would make it easier for Gideon and Finn to patch him up.

" _He could be a little nicer about it_." Chewbacca grumbled, laying back against the bench.

Gideon turned to Finn, sending him a quick look before injecting Chewie with the medicine. The Wookiee let out a small hiss of pain from the stinging sensation, but otherwise had calmed down.

"How's it going with Chewie back there?" Han called from the cockpit, where he and Rey were working on getting them out of the hangar.

"He's only tried to kill me _six_ times!" Finn retorted back. Chewbacca grabbed the defected Stormtrooper by the collar, raising him up so they were eye level.

"Which is perfectly fine, thank you!"

Gideon finished grabbed up the Wookiee's wounds, sitting back against the bench with a huff. Even when Finn wasn't aggravating him, it was hard to take care of his blaster wounds. Wookies were always grumpy when it came to that department.

"I have it under control." The captain called, "Uncle Chewie will be fine."

The Wookiee reached out and patted Gideon on the shoulder, sending her a small look of gratitude. The woman put her hand on top of his for a moment, returning the look.

" _Here_." Chewbacca reached over and grabbed another small canister of medicine, handing it to the woman, " _You need it too_."

Gideon looked down at her blaster wound, having become almost accustomed to its sharp aches from the last two days. The stitches her brother had done after it first happened were all torn. She should close it before they touched down at their next stop.

Lifting up the hem of her shirt, the woman carefully unraveled her makeshift bandages, exposing the wound to open air. She grit her teeth from the rawness of the injury, leaning her head back for a moment. She needed to suture the wound shut again.

"Woah, what happened?" Finn asked, noticing the worsened state of Gideon's blaster wound. He grabbed some more rolls of bandages leftover from treating Chewie's wounds before reaching for the suture device.

"Stupid Rathtar." She mumbled, "Threw me against the wall. 'Must have tore the rest of my stitches."

The defected Stormtrooper looked uneasy as he sat himself between the captain and Chewbacca, the sight of Gideon's wound making him feel queasy. However, despite the Wookiee on edge beside him and his injured friend, he tried to swallow his nerves and get to work.

"Let me help." He said, sending a reassuring look to the woman. Gideon looked to Chewbacca, who was giving Finn a questionable look, trying to determine if he approved of him or not.

Gideon was just glad she didn't have to do it herself again. She lifted the hem of her shirt to reveal more of the wound, her eyes shut as her friend got to work.

Han and Rey returned from the cockpit, having locked in their coordinates for their next destination. BB-8 was at their heels, and upon seeing Gideon decided to join the captain with a few beeps.

"I'm fine, BB-8." Gideon grimaced from the burning sensation of the suture device, running along the open wound to cauterize it shut. While Finn guided the little device with one hand, the other pinched the wound closed. She was honestly surprised he didn't throw up or pass out.

"How'd he do?" Han asked Chewbacca, examining the defected Stormtrooper's handiwork on his lifelong friend, "Good job."

The smuggler turned to Finn, who was still working on patching up Gideon's side. He sent a look to his daughter as if to ask if she was okay. The woman nodded through grit teeth, giving her father a thumbs up to indicate she was fine.

"Thank you." Han said to Finn, "Really."

As soon as he finished closing her wound, Finn injected the medicine right into her side. It burned for moment or two, and then all the pain seemed to slowly fade away into a barely noticeable throb.

"Thanks." Gideon said as she pulled her shirt down over the treated wound. The woman ran a hand down her face, relieved to have the constant pain on her side finally dealt with.

Rey quietly took a seat next to Finn, sending him a look as he accidentally activated the chess-like game on the table in front of him.

"So..." Han eyed Gideon as he spoke, "You're all fugitives, huh?"

"Just from the First Order." Finn said, cutting Gideon off before she could say something a little different than her friend's statement.

"Do you want to explain yourselves?" He asked, "I'm looking at you, kid."

Gideon's cheeks reddened slightly as she felt her father's eyes on her. She got up, her torso sending a tiny ache through her abdomen from the movement, but slowly went away after a few moments. The captain began to pace the dusty floors of the Millennium Falcon, unsure of where to start.

"Poe Dameron and I were held as prisoners at the First Order." She started, "Poe... he had something the First Order wants. Finn here helped us escape to Jakku, where we crash landed."

Her eyes fell to the floor, "Poe... he uh..."

Finn took over before Gideon could show her grief, "He didn't survive the crash. Gideon and I met Rey, who found BB-8 at Niima Outpost."

"The droid has the map to Luke Skywalker, like we said before." Gideon told her father, "We have to get it to the general straight away."

Han seemed to stiffen at Gideon's mention of the General, simply by the way she addressed her. However, he hid his reservations by nodding to the astromech, "Let's see what you've got."

BB-8 shyly rolled forward, sending a look to the captain before continuing. As the woman nodded, he displayed an obviously incomplete map of the galaxy, leading to somewhere in the unknown regions.

"It's not finished." Han observed.

"So it is true?" Rey spoke up, her excited eyes dancing from Gideon to Han, and then glancing at Finn, "You are the Han Solo that fought with Luke Skywalker. The Jedi are real, aren't they?"

"What happened to him?" Finn asked.

Gideon sent a look to her father, completely unsure of the story herself, even if it involved her own uncle. After what happened, her mother never told her where Luke was, or if they'd see him again.

"After the fall of the Empire, Luke went to train a new order of Jedi." Han explained, "One of the Jedi... an apprentice... turned to the dark side and destroyed what he was trying to build. Luke blamed himself for it and just walked away from it all. Some say he went into hiding. Some say he went looking for the first Jedi Temple."

"So they're real? The Jedi? The Force?" Rey asked, on the edge of her seat.

"I used to think that it wasn't real, that it was just a bunch of magic mumbo-jumbo. But I've seen it with my own eyes. The Jedi, the Force... it's all real." Han sent a look to Gideon, who possessed a small gift of the Force herself.

"If anyone can help us stop the First Order, it's Luke." Gideon said to her father, "Which is why we need to get this map back to the Resistance Base. As soon as possible."

The Falcon's navigations systems let out a few beeps, alerting Han Solo that they were nearing their destination.

"That's our next stop. I have a friend who will get you a clean ship."

"What's wrong with this ship?" Finn quirked a brow.

"You think it was just a coincidence I was able to find this ship? If it showed up on my scanners, it will show up on the scanners of the First Order." The former General of the Rebellion answered with a sigh, "Maz will know exactly what to do."   
  
  


* * *

"Why don't I get a gun?" Gideon asked her father as they stepped off the ship, watching as both Finn and Rey got to take blasters. She turned to her father with an expectant look, nodding to the extra blaster in his belt.

"Because you don't need one." Han smirked, "And because I said so."

The captain rolled her eyes, feeling a bit bare without anything to defend herself with. She looked to Chewie in protest, who was staying on the ship to rest and make some repairs.

"I'm not a child, anymore." Gideon sighed, "If someone attacks us, what am I supposed to do?"

Han looked to Chewie, who gave a quick argument in Gideon's favor. However, the smuggler's fatherly instincts were now at an all-time high for some reason. He hadn't seen his daughter in years, and for some reason that gave him the feeling he should be protecting her.

"No." He said, to both Gideon and Chewbacca, "I don't care what you might have done in the past, as Dalia or as Gideon, but you're _my_ daughter on _my_ ship. My rules, okay?"

Gideon bitterly strode ahead of the group, a hint of hurt and annoyance in her clenched jaw and downcast eyes. The beautiful and lavish green landscape of Takodana didn't seem to impress the woman this time. She was too preoccupied by the fact that after all these years, Han finally decided to step up and be the father she so desperately wanted?

She couldn't stand it, especially since the last time she saw them was when they found out about Ben joining the dark side, where he grabbed Chewie and the Falcon and left without saying goodbye. She was just a teenager.

Maz Kanata's cantina was over one thousand years old. A statue of the woman stood erect at the entrance, where Han Solo was hoping to get his daughter and her friends a ride to the Resistance. Gideon had been there once or twice before, and she prayed that none of her former business partners were in attendance.

"Don't stare, okay?" Han told the trio as they walked into the cantina, adjusting his jacket and straightening his posture once they entered.

"Stare at what?" Finn asked, standing next to Rey instinctively.

Han shrugged, "Any of it."

Finn and Rey shot Gideon a look with the hopes that she'd explain what her father meant. However, the captain was still bitter about his earlier remark, and simply shrugged her shoulders as she ducked her head into the cantina, motioning for the orange and white astromech to follow.

"Let's try not to draw too much attention to ourselves." Gideon whispered to her newfound friends, "All we need is a ship and then we're out of here."

She felt a few gazes fall on her as walked closely behind her father, trying to keep her expression even and relaxed as a way to mask her nerves. All they needed to make things worse right now was someone who really wanted the price on Gideon's head to notice the captain.

" _Han Solo_!" A booming voice ceased the cheerful music and exuberant bar chatter. All eyes went to the group of four, which caused Gideon to swear under her breath. She bowed her head, her gaze falling to the floor to avoid eye contact with any unwanted company.

Maz Kanata was a short, kind woman who owned the cantina, allowing anyone to reside at her place as long as they strayed away from politics and war. It was a haven for criminals and bounty hunters to blow off some steam, get a meal, and be on their way. Despite the clientele that filled the cantina, it was a relatively peaceful place.

As the thousand-year old hostess approached, her eyes enlarged by giant eyeglasses, making her short stature no less intimidating. Despite her small size and seemingly harmless appearance, Maz held a sense of command that was challenged by no one on Takodana.

"Maz." Han smiled nervously, "How've you been?"

"Where's my boyfriend, Solo?" Maz asked, her enlarged brown eyes doing a once over on the trio standing behind the smuggler.

"Chewie's on the ship, making some repairs." Han explained.

"I like that Wookiee... You must only be here because you need something from me." Maz clicked her tongue in an amused version of disappointment, "Come, let us sit and talk."

They had a table in the back, where Maz kindly provided the group of four with some food and refreshments. Gideon was glad to be drinking something that wasn't dirty trough water, and the fruit the owner of the cantina provided satisfied her empty stomach. She sat between her father and Rey, keeping her eyes on the table as she at quietly, waiting for the right opportunity to chime in.

"So you're right back in the mess!" Maz chuckled.

"Maz." Han leaned in, "We need you to get this droid to Leia."

Gideon looked up, her eyes meeting the woman's across the table. She nodded in agreement with her father, though something in her eyes seemed to sway her decision.

"No." Maz simply said, her eyes moving from Han to Gideon for a moment or two, "Han, you've been running from this fight for too long, and you-"

Gideon stiffened at bit as Maz's attention was turned towards her, her ancient eyes boring into hers, "Dalia, it is time for you to go home."

The words sent a sharp pang through the captain's chest, her eyes closing for a moment as she tried not to let the woman see her off guard. Gideon wasn't ready to go home. She couldn't. The last time she saw her mother... things didn't end well. She walked away and abandoned a fight she didn't believe in... one she still has reservations about.

"Leia doesn't want to see me." Han shook his head, his voice gruff with hidden conflict. Their whole family was broken. It would take more than a lost droid to pick up the shattered pieces and put them back together. As much as both Gideon and Han craved the family they once were... it was impossible for them all to return to that.

"Please." Finn broke the silence, "We came here for _your_ help."

Rey seemed totally lost, her eyes sweeping over the group before turning to Maz, her voice low, "What fight?"

"The only fight." Maz replied to the curious scavenger, "Against the dark side. Through the ages, I've seen evil take many forms. The Sith, the Empire... today it is the First Order. Their shadow's spreading across the galaxy. We must face them. _Fight_ them. All of us."

From across the table, Gideon could visibly see Finn's growing fear and reservations about carrying on with their journey to the Resistance. He leaned forward, his eyes apprehensive as he looked to Maz.

"There is no fight against the First Order. Not one we can win." He shook his head, still afraid of the looming danger of being caught. What would happen to him if the First Order found him?

"Look around." Finn nudged Rey and Gideon, "There's no way we haven't been recognized already. The First Order is probably already on their-"

The defected Stormtrooper trailed off as his glance fell on Maz. The woman was adjusting her eyeglasses, enlarging her eyes even more to get a better look at the man. She stood up, pushing the food and refreshments aside as she walked across the table to study Finn carefully. It was obvious she saw right through his act.

"Solo?" Finn looked to Han quickly, "What is she doing?"

Han leaned back in his chair, hiding his amused smile, "I don't know, but it ain't good."

"When you live long enough you see the same eyes in different people." Maz noted, her brown eyes peering into Finn's with curiosity, "Right now I'm looking in the eyes of someone who wants to run."

Gideon held back a wince, knowing that the statement hit a sore spot in Finn. His eyes widened a bit as he leaned forward, his walls immediately going up.

"You don't know anything about me." He said in a low voice, "Where I'm from, what I've seen. You don't know the First Order like I do. They'll _slaughter_ us. We all need to run."

Closing her eyes, Gideon tried not to show the guilt that was starting to eat away at her stomach. The Battle of Bulvan immediately entered her mind, where the screams echoed and the hundreds of innocent people were slaughtered in front of her eyes. It was her first mission as a Squadron Leader, way too young to endure the weight of the title.

Finn, in a way, was right. The First Order was powerful and menacing, stronger than any Force Gideon had witnessed in her lifetime. She'd been in the fight, when she was just a kid, and learned that the only result in fighting was the death of innocents.

What was she even doing here?

Her entire demeanor changed as she quickly excused herself from the table. Gideon ignored Rey and Han calling after her, each using the name they knew her best as.

_What the hell am I doing?_

The wall of fresh air that hit her was a relief, her legs wobbling and her hands trembling at her sides. The captain walked towards the edge of the cliff, looking out into the horizon. While her body appeared to be calm on the outside, save for the twitching in her fingers and the imbalance in her trembling legs, she was having a crisis in her mind.

Maz said that it was time for her to go home... but what if she wasn't ready? Gideon had been away from her family for seven years, where she was digging herself deeper and deeper into a hole that she had convinced herself was a happy life. Suddenly, that didn't seem true anymore.

_"So this is what you've decided? You're just not going to come back?"_

_Gideon stood at the other side of the ship, her ship, her eyes locking on Poe's with a pang of uncertainty. Her mind went back to that day on Bulvan, where she could practically still hear the screams over blaster fire, smell the stench of death and smoke._

_"I can't." She shook her head, "I'm sorry, Poe, but I'm not like you..."_

_Poe folded his arms, trying to mask the hurt in his eyes by glancing down at the floor. He shook his head, taking a moment to process what was happening._

_"You can't just walk away from something like this." Poe argued, "This is what our parents and their parents before them have been fighting for their whole lives. You can't just choose to walk away like it doesn't matter."_

_"It_ does _matter." Gideon retorted, feeling suddenly like that lost teen again on Hosnian Prime, trading fights for meals, "It matters so much to me, Poe, but right now I can't go back. I can't fight in a war that has cost so many innocent people their lives."_

_Poe bit his lip, his dark eyes boring into Gideon's as he tried to grasp onto an answer, "So that's it then? We're just going to part ways after everything?"_

_She shook her head, "You know that's not true."_

"Mind if I join you?"

Gideon flinched back to reality, her racing heart skipping a beat at the sudden presence of her father. She didn't realize she had sat down, looking down over the green forests and bright blue water that flowed through the heart of Takodana.

"I don't know, is it against the rules?" Gideon asked, a hint of dry humor in her voice to hide the growing anxiety in her chest. Han chuckled lightly, but could sense the young woman was uneasy about their relationship.

"That was stupid." Han shook his head as he sat down, "I just didn't know what else to say... you're my little girl, you know?"

Gideon smiled a bit, tucking a loose curl behind an ear, "I know you think that... but you and I both know that's not true anymore."

Han raised a brow, "What's changed?"

"A lot." Gideon shrugged, sending her father a glance, "I couldn't stay... which you probably understand."

"No. Actually, I don't." Han disagreed, his tone asking her to continue.

There was a melancholy about Gideon that seemed to consume her as she spoke. While she knew she couldn't stay with the Resistance after what happened... she also knew that she terribly missed her family more than she'd care to admit. It pained her heart everyday, and even haunted her at night. She felt like a disappointment.

"Everything that happened with our family, with Ben... it wasn't the same. Then you left, and it was just me and Mom." Gideon wrapper a tall blade of grass around her index finger, her fingers itching with anxiety and nerves as she spoke, "We fought a lot... and then after the Battle of Bulvan... I dropped everything and left."

She couldn't bring herself to look up at her father, feeling like the biggest disappointment in the galaxy. Maybe she should have stayed at the Resistance. Maybe she shouldn't have turned to a life of fight clubs and illegal weapons and parts smuggling. Maybe she should have gone back to the Resistance with Poe all those years ago.

"You're not a disappointment, if that's what you're thinking." Han shook his head, "Far from it."

"You're just saying that because you haven't seen me in years." Gideon shook her head in denial, "I left everything you guys fought for like I didn't even care."

"But you did." Han retorted, "You _do_ care. Why else would you be traveling across the galaxy to do the right thing?"

"Well the alternative was either being killed by the First Order or being left on Jakku." Gideon joked, a small laugh escaping her lips, "But I like your interpretation better."

Han smiled, reaching out to ruffle the woman's hair, something he did frequently when she was just a little girl. It sent a warmth through her veins she hadn't felt in a while.

"I've missed you, Dalia." Her father said, "More than you know."

Gideon reached out, grabbing his arm and giving it a comforting squeeze. She nodded, unable to find the words that properly described what the was feeling in that moment.

Although neither of them said it, they both agreed in that moment that once they got back to the Resistance, maybe they'd consider staying.

However, that thought was quickly cut short as a red streak suddenly flashed across the sky. Even far away, both Gideon and Han (and everyone else on Takodana) could hear the explosions of destroyed planets.

Gideon was quickly on her feet, a sudden wave of fear and hopelessness taking over her body. She watched the tiny explosions of the Hosnian Prime system light up the already sunny sky.

Han, springing to his feet, grabbed his daughter by the arm and tugged her back towards the cantina.

"What... what _was_ that?" She asked, a shiver rolling down her spine from the sight, her eyes never leaving the sky as she ran alongside the smuggler.

"The First Order!" Finn caught up with them as they rejoined the crowd in front of Maz's cantina, "It was the First Order, they-"

"Where's Rey?" Gideon suddenly asked, a sense of urgency taking over her body, "Where's the droid?"


	18. Find Rey

"I've had this for ages." Maz opened a small box she kept in the basement of her cantina, presenting Han, Gideon, Finn, and Chewbacca with Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, "It belonged to Luke Skywalker, and his father before him."

Gideon's eyes were widened as she weapon was held out in front of them, never actually witnessing a real Jedi's lightsaber before. Her mind immediately went to the stories her mother told her, about she and Luke training, about their missions with the Rebellion to stop Darth Vader. A lifetime's worth of legends and stories revolved around the very lightsaber that was waved in front of them.

"Where'd you get it?" Han asked, brows quirked at the small, ancient woman.

"That's a story for another time." Maz handed the lightsaber to Finn, who took it gently with both hands, "Take this, and find your friend. Give it to her."

Her eyes went to Gideon, who was tense and speechless at the present course of events. Max grabbed Gideon's hand gently, giving it a squeeze.

"I know you feel the Force, just like I do, my child." Maz patted the back of the captain's trembling hand, "Let it guide you home."

Suddenly, the whole stone castle shook, explosions and blaster fire echoing from outside the cantina. Gideon looked up through a crack in the stonework, TIE fighters surging across the sky as it reigned fire down on the haven Maz had built for a thousand years.

"Those beasts." Maz shook her head in distaste, "They're here."

Explosions rocked the entire compound as it crumbled around them. The hallway they originally came through was gone, but a hole was blasted through the rubble that was big enough for them to pass through.

They needed to move, _now_.

"Finn." Gideon called over her shoulder as they crawled out from the lower levels of the castle, "You need to find Rey and BB-8."

She grabbed his shoulders, looking at her with a sense of urgency. Right now, as the First Order was quickly closing in on them, her only goal was to keep the droid safe. Poe died so that the droid could carry out his mission. She was going to make sure that mission was finished.

"What about you?" He asked, awkwardly holding the lightsaber as he looked around, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he prepared to take off, "Come with me."

"No." The captain shook her head, "I'll cover you, best I can. What matters is that the droid is safe, okay? Promise me."

That same saddened look from Jakku flashed in Gideon's eyes as Finn nodded in agreement, pulling away so he could run towards the woods and find their missing friend. He understood how much they needed to complete this mission, that no matter if they were a part of the Resistance or not, this was their duty.

"Okay." He gave her arm a quick squeeze before taking off, lighting the blue saber to defend himself against attacking Stormtroopers.

Ducking behind a fallen stone statue to join her father and uncle, Gideon urgently looked to them with an outstretched hand.

"Now do I get a blaster?" She asked, her fingers twisting as she kept track of Finn's position in her peripheral vision, " _Please_?"

Han seemed to think about it for a moment, but before he could say anything Chewbacca ripped the extra blaster from his friend's holster and tossed it to the captain. Gideon caught it with a smile, switching off the safety so she could cover her friend.

"Hey!" Han protested, his eyes falling on his daughter as she sent a single shot towards a Stormtrooper approaching their position of cover. She ducked back down, her face tightened in concentration.

"It's not like I haven't used one before." Gideon rolled her eyes, "I'm not sixteen anymore."

" _She's right_." Chewbacca added, " _Dalia is an adult._ "

The smuggler got fully to his feet, landing expert shots at several Stormtroopers, even ones that were approaching from behind. He got up, walking briskly to a new point of cover. Chewbacca and Gideon were hot on his tail, covering their six's carefully.

"Oh, so now you're both ganging up on me?" He asked, "That's not fair."

Just as Gideon was going to shoot two troopers sprinting at them, her father unloaded the two kill shots, their white armor clanking to the ground. The captain turned to her father, her eyes narrowed in deep frustration and confusion.

"I can take care of myself." She argued, her gaze shifting to Finn once she realized he needed more cover.

Rolling to a lower vantage point, Gideon unloaded a few shots, giving Finn more time to fight against a Stormtrooper with a particularly large and durable electric blaster. Her blaster smoked from the shots, but she simply crawled back behind the smoking TIE Fighter they were hiding behind. Finn would need her help, and soon, if he was going to get to the woods to find Rey and BB-8.

"Look, Dalia." Han said in between shots, "I don't care what sort of shenanigans you got into before, but this is not exactly your territory. I'm just trying to protect you."

Finn was sent stumbling to the ground, where he rolled around a bit before trying to get up. The Stormtrooper was slowly approaching him, readying his large blaster to make the kill move.

"Thanks and all, Dad, but I don't need it." She argued back, vaulting herself over Maz's fallen statue as she ran to go help Finn.

Gideon could hear her father's protests behind her, but the woman was determined. She rolled to avoid heavy fire, snatching a Stormtrooper blaster from the ground to provide extra fire power as she ran to join the fight Finn was evidently losing.

Firing from both blasters, Gideon took out the Stormtrooper that was about to hurt Finn. She slid one of the blasters into her holster, offering the defected Stormtrooper a hand. Finn sorely got to his feet, looking around at the fight around them briefly to catch his breath.

"Thanks." He nodded, adjusting his grip on the lightsaber, "Really."

Gideon shrugged, her dark eyes scanning their surroundings for any approaching enemies.

"You would have done the same for me." She offered, going back to back with Finn as half a dozen troopers surrounded them.

"What do we do now?" Finn whispered, turning his head so his question would be spoken right in her ear. Gideon rested a hand on her second blaster, her finger wrapping around the trigger of the one clutched in her sweaty hand.

"We fight."

Gideon shot at three of the Stormtroopers, her targets immediately dropping to the debris-littered floor. The woman turned, but found the troopers were heading closer to them for a more messy fight.

The captain fought a clever offensive, mostly favoring her right side since that arm was considerably stronger than her left. Her fists swiped at the approaching trooper, trying to knock them back at an appropriate range to shoot her blaster at them.

She ducked, using her legs as leverage as she swiped them to knock the Stormtrooper over. They fell, their weapon clattering to the ground. Gideon ended their fight with a swift pull of the trigger, her mind already on the next Stormtrooper.

Gideon was knocked back, stumbling away from Finn. The Stormtroopers' goal was most likely to separate them, the two obviously fighting a stronger offensive when they were together.

She raised her blaster to shoot, but a smartly aimed blaster bolt knocked the weapon out of her hand, the intense heat causing her to let go. Gideon reached for her other blaster, but a swift hit in the chest managed to send her to the ground, the air knocked out of her lungs.

As terrible as they were at shooting on target, the Stormtroopers were growing increasingly smart. In the short time she was fighting in hand to hand combat with them, they learned her weaknesses in a fight. A white boot was shoved into her left shoulder, pinning her down. The scarred muscle and tissue twinged in discomfort, leaving Gideon completely useless to fight, unable to reach her blaster from her position.

Letting out a grunt of pain from the pressure in her damaged shoulder, Gideon stared up at the Stormtrooper with narrowed eyes, her breath hot in her throat as she struggled to break out of the pinned hold.

"You know," She winced, the pressure in which the Stormtrooper's boot had her pinned increasing with every passing moment, "You guys have gotten a lot smarter recently."

More weight was applied to her shoulder, "Ren told us to familiarize ourselves with your file. He updated it after your little traitorous mission with him, Rebel scum."

"You went on a mission with Kylo Ren?" Finn called from behind Gideon, hesitating to make the next swing as he heard the news. This caused him to be decked in the face, sending him sharply to the ground.

"It's a long story." Gideon grimaced, her eyes softening at the mention of her brother, "I'll explain later."

"You won't be explaining anything." The Stormtrooper pinning her to the ground pressed their long gun against her forehead. Gideon stiffened, the color draining from her face. Were they going to shoot her?

"Ren has ordered for your arrest for your crimes against the First Order."

Gideon closed her eyes, the whirring of the weapon vibrating against her skull. While they weren't going to shoot her, the feeling of an active weapon pressed against her face was terrifying. One wrong move, and her brains would be blown out.

Then, suddenly, the troopers that had Finn and Gideon surrounded were shot down. Immediate relief came to her shoulder once the Stormtrooper's boot was released, the blaster knocked to the ground beside her head.

"No arrests will be made today." Han sassed, offering his daughter a hand. Gideon pulled herself to her feet, her clammy hand grasping her fathers tightly. She was breathless from being held at gunpoint, her face still pale and eyes shifty and uneasy. However, she assumed a small level of her normal confidence back.

"Never pull a stunt like that again, Dalia, do you hear me?" Han scolded the captain, who was gripping her tender shoulder with a gentle hand, trying to massage the soreness away. Although the Stormtroopers didn't do any damage to her shoulder, the discomfort would be enough to keep it stiff for days.

"Yeah." She nodded, sending an exhausted look over to Finn, who dusted himself off, "Sorry."

Just as they were about to leave for the Falcon, a dozen Stormtroopers tightly surrounded them. Weapons were ripped from their hands, blasters poked sharply between their shoulder blades.

"Not so fast." One of them snapped, "You're coming with us. All of you are under arrest."

"Get your hands in the air!"

Gideon sent a look to her father, nervousness etched in her features. Her hands were yanked up into the air by a nearby trooper, her shoulder sending a sharp jolt all the way down to her fingertips. Han assumed a grim frown, following suit.

" _Get off me, bucket-heads_!" Chewie growled in protest, though his hands remained in the air.

Finn was pale, his hands shaking ever so slightly as they began their march back to the Stormtroopers' ship. His worst nightmare was coming true, and the haunting possibilities of what they'd do to him for defecting were limitless. He sent a panicked look to Gideon, who returned it with an attempt of a reassuring nod, trying to make the both of them feel even the tiniest bit better.

It had been a hopeless situation from the start. Rey and BB-8 were probably miles away from here by now. They'd never find them in time to get back to the Falcon, even if Finn did manage to get to the woods. They were vastly outnumbered, and Maz's place wasn't exactly familiar territory for any of them.

"I'm sorry." Han whispered to Dalia, who felt responsible, even if it wasn't his fault, for their capture.

Gideon sent him a look, shaking her head with a frown. It wasn't his fault. Someone in the cantina had ratted them out to the First Order. How else would they be found so quickly?

The woman was about to open her mouth to say something, but a sudden dark, familiar feeling entered her chest. Her face paled, eyes widening in both shock and fear as she recalled the last time she'd seen him.

Her brother was here.

She stopped in her tracks, her head looking around the place desperately as she tried to locate where Kylo Ren was and where he was headed.

_You're just a criminal with no one to miss you when you're gone_.

"He's here." She whispered, ignoring the Stormtroopers' orders to keep moving. A blaster was shoved into her back, causing her to stumble forward numbly.

All she could recall was that painful feeling of him ripping apart her thoughts as he tried to pull information out of her. The demeaning words he hissed at her bouncing around in her head, coming from the same face that had told her tearfully he was going to miss her while he trained with Uncle Luke.

She wanted to throw up, her stomach twisting in sickening knots. The Stormtroopers shoved her forward again, their voices blending in with the numbing white noise around them.

"Dalia." Han's voice was laced with concern at the sudden change in his daughter, "What's wrong?"

Gideon couldn't find her voice, her chest pounding as the presence of her brother made every inch of her skin crawl with uneasiness. What was he doing here? What was his goal?

"We have incoming at two-eight point six." One of the troopers called, a slight panic rising in their voice.

"Go!"

" _Move!_ "

The captain snapped out of her trance, shifting her gaze to the waterfront. A whole squadron of T-70 X-wings were speeding their way, water splashing up behind them from the sheer speed of their aircrafts.

"It's the Resistance." Han lowered his hands, a hopeful glint in his eye as he exchanged glances with Chewbacca.

"Took them long enough." Gideon said quietly, her voice laced with sarcasm as an attempt to recover from her previous shock. Around them, Stormtroopers were swiftly shot down by the T-70's, killing the dozen who were bringing them to their ship.

"Quick!" Han said to them, grabbing their weapons from the fallen Stormtroopers. Gideon picked up two blasters, covering Finn as he crawled to get both the lightsaber and a blaster to defend himself with.

"We have to find Rey." She told him, "And the droid."

Finn nodded, shooting at Stormtroopers approaching the captain's six. The captain offered him a hand to quickly get to his feet, both of them shooting at incoming troopers. With the Resistance's air support, they were quickly able to take out the enemy, allowing them to make their move.

"This way!" Finn grabbed her hand, pulling her in the direction of the woods. They ducked to avoid blaster fire, smoke and small chunks of dirt and debris flying all around them.

Above their heads a T-70 was zipping through the sky, weaving around other X-wings and TIEs. They shot nearly all of the enemy fighters out of the sky, and took out a lot of Stormtroopers on the ground. Gideon and Finn exchanged a smile, though hers was more melancholy than his.

"That is one hell of a pilot!" Finn cheered, now confident in their small victory in the battle against the First Order.

Gideon forced the smile to remain on her face, feeling happy about the Resistance's save, but the lingering and still fresh loss of Dameron removed the usual spark from her eyes. Hell of a pilot or not, Poe would always be the best, even if she herself didn't want to admit.

She turned, heading swiftly to the woods, remembering why she was here in the first place. If BB-8 fell into the hands of the First Order, she'd never forgive herself.

"Orders from Ren!" A Stormtrooper shouted above the blaster fire, "Fall back! We're pulling out." 

"What?" Gideon whispered, her heart stopping cold as she slowed her run, sending a worried look for Finn as she tried to remember how to breathe.

All she had to do was find Rey and BB-8, and she couldn't even do that.

"They're retreating." Finn watched the surviving troopers run back into their ships, the half dozen TIEs disappearing into the sky. In the sea of troopers, Gideon didn't see the orange and white astromech.

She also didn't see her brother, either. Whatever he deemed a good reason to retreat, they were going to see.

_You're nothing._

Gideon dropped one of her blasters, the clattering noise of it falling onto stone echoing throughout the now silent battle field. Coming out of the woods was her brother, his face masked and hooded.

And in his arms was Rey.

"No." She whispered, shaking her head to herself as she watched them head towards the ship. Her legs numbly carried her closer to them, though it was impossible that she'd be able to catch up.

Anger and frustration swelled in her chest, watching an innocent person being carried off to a certain doom. Rey saw the map, and that was valuable to Kylo Ren. He didn't need the droid, he could take what was in her mind and use it to his advantage. Once he got what he wanted, their was no telling what he'd do with her.

" _No_!" There was more force to her voice this time, raising her remaining blaster with a trembling hand. Her finger was curled around the trigger, her eyes blinded by an emotion she couldn't comprehend.

" _Rey_!" Finn shouted, desperate to do anything to save his friend. His shouting was numb to Gideon, unaware of his body flying past her in order to try and catch up to the ship. All she could hear were her own thoughts, replaying the last meeting she had with her brother. All she could see was red. All she could think about was what he'd done to rip apart their family.

Then, just before he entered the ship, Kylo Ren turned around to look out at the scene he was leaving. Gideon's entire body shivered with a chill, feeling his presence as if he were standing right in front of her.

The words _I win_ echoed around in her mind, a coldness settling in her stomach.

"Dalia."

Her hand, still gripping her blaster with white knuckles, was lowered to the ground. Once it was no longer pointed at her brother, Gideon let the weapon slip through her fingers and clank onto the ground just like the other one had moments before. The captain took her focus away from the departing ship, her dark eyes falling on her father.

Gideon's eyes said it all, and so did Han's. They both saw him, they both felt that cold presence that grasped their hearts by the fist with enough power to rip them out. If she hadn't known it before, she certainly knew it now.

Ben was gone, and there was no getting him back.

Han Solo looked down at his daughter, seeing the pain that the truth caused well up in her eyes. He did something he hadn't done in a long, long time. Han hugged his daughter.

"I'm sorry." He said again, quietly in her ear. Gideon rested her head in Han's shoulder, shaking her head, allowing herself to take a moment and let herself feel her frustrations and sadness.

After a moment, she pulled away, her eyes wet with tears but cheeks still dry. Gideon turned away from Han and Chewie, her attention falling on the landing cargo ship just meters from their position.

"Solo!" Finn called, rejoining the group after attempting to chase down the ship, "Rey! He has Rey!"

"Yeah, kid." Han wasn't in the mood to talk, walking past the former Stormtrooper and towards the Resistance cargo ship, "I know."

Gideon sent a look to Finn, telling him to drop it. They'll get Rey back, but now they had to focus on the bigger picture, and that was the First Order's next move.

They had just witnessed not even twenty minutes ago the destruction of an entire solar system. Billions of people were just murdered, innocent people. The Hosnian Prime was the home of the New Republic, the very reason the Resistance exists. The First Order wanted to send a message.

"Han, is that my daughter?"

Gideon froze, her gaze shifting up towards the source of the voice.

General Leia Organa slowly walked up to her, her eyes widened in both shock and disbelief. For seven years they hadn't seen each other, or spoken. Seven years without any contact, and here they were, standing mere feet from each other.

"Hi, Mom."


	19. Not Dead

The ride to D'Qar aboard the Millennium Falcon was tense and quiet. Gideon was half asleep and half in deep thought, still in disbelief about her interaction with her mother.

_"Hi, Mom." Gideon offered a smile, unaware of what to do or how to act. The last time they saw each other was their huge fight, the day she left the Resistance._

_"You've cut your hair?" Leia asked, which eased a small laugh from Gideon as she tucked a chin-length curl behind an ear._

_"Yeah." She nodded, "A while ago."_

_There was a long, heavy moment of silence. Gideon and Leia stared at each other, but both couldn't make eye contact with the other for long. The memory of their last fight was hanging over their heads, and the recent massacre of billions of people was not helping either side._

_"It makes you look grown up." Leia added, to break the silence._

_Gideon pointed to the T-70's flying back into the sky, most likely heading back to the Resistance's new location._

_"I... uh... I like what you've done with, you know..." The captain offered another smile, "Thank you."_

_"Thank you for Nowhere." the General said, obviously meaning Gideon's warning of a First Order ambush, "It saved a lot of lives."_

_"Well, I didn't want the past to repeat itself."_

_There it was._

_Both women winced at Gideon's remark. Neither knew what to say or how to act around the other, and it was painful for onlookers such as Han or C-3PO to watch._

_Leia opened her mouth to say something, but luckily Dameron's intuitive little droid knew how to save the day._

_"_ Finn needs you on the ship _." The droid beeped, bumping into Gideon's leg._

_Gideon knelt down, patting the droid on the head. She was glad he was okay, knowing that they all were almost captured or killed until the Resistance moved in... well, one person was captured._

_"I should go." Gideon cleared her throat, "Our... our friend was kidnapped."_

_Leia bit her lip, "Later, I think we need to talk."_

_Getting back to her feet, the captain nodded, "Yeah. I think we do, too_."

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Gideon ran a hand down her face. She hated the awkwardness and the tension that surrounded her and her mother, but obviously knew that they both had good reasons for it being there. They were stubborn women who both strongly believed in their side of the argument. It would take more than a cheery reunion to make their differences on politics disappear.

Next to her, Finn was stiff and quiet, his eyes focused on his hands. It was obvious he was still thinking about Rey, probably blaming himself for her being captured.

"Hey." Gideon's voice was quiet, not wanting their conversation to carry down to the cockpit. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze of comfort, "I'm sorry."

He looked up, "For what?"

She shrugged, "I know how close you were getting with Rey. It's hard seeing the people we care about being taken away."

Finn nodded solemnly, "It never gets easier."

She saw it in his eyes, "That's why you left?"

He nodded again, "I watched one of my squad mates die right in front of me. No one did anything to help. No one mourned them. No one cared."

Gideon felt a tug of sorrow in her chest. She'd never thought about what actually happened with Stormtroopers. They were trained from birth to serve the First Order after being ripped away from families they'd never know, to do their bidding and kill. She never thought about what it felt like from their point of view.

"I'm sorry." She said again, though she didn't think it would help how he felt very much. Finn grabbed Gideon's hand within his own again, comforted by her friendly touch.

"I know I didn't know him for long... but I miss him." Finn said, obviously talking about Poe. Gideon felt her heart twist, her breath slowly being taken away.

"Me too." She said quietly, suddenly stiffening at the thought of his death.

"Were you close?" Finn asked, "You and Poe?"

The woman let out a small laugh, her mind briefly lost in a memory, "There's no one I trusted more."

"Were you together?"

Gideon immediately shook her head, "No, we were never like that. I don't think we ever _could_ be, with everything going on."

Finn nodded, "I'm sorry."

The captain twitched here lips up into a fake smile, her stomach still feeling heavy with grief. She let go of Finn's hand, suddenly unable to sit still without wallowing in her thoughts.

"I'm going to check in up front."

Her feet carried her through the interior of the Millennium Falcon, taking a brief detour on her way to the cockpit. Besides the wear and tear from age and sitting in a hot son for years on end, it looked the same since her childhood. While nearly all of her family's old belongings were stripped off the ship, some memories still remained.

In one doorway, next to the captain's quarters, were tick marks etched into the metal interior of the doorframe. Written next to each tick was a name, age, and star date, telling a small story about the family that used to travel in the Falcon.

Gideon ran her hand along the indentations, each date next to the names of her and her brother bringing back memories from the days those heights were recorded. The first tick mark was Ben's, when he was three or four years old. His last one was when he was ten, marked just a short time before he left to go train with Luke.

After he left to train, the ticks weren't as consistent. Gideon's ticks stopped when she was twelve, marked on the day of one of her first official flying lessons. The word _Dalia_ were scribbled in her mother's near handwriting next to her age and date, only about three inches shorter from where she stood now.

Even though it had been over seven years since she'd seen either of her parents, looking at those tick marks made it seem almost like yesterday. Gideon never went a day without thinking about her family, especially how much she missed them. She was practically still a child when she left, having just turned eighteen. Now? Now Gideon felt like a whole new person. Hell, she even had a whole new name.

However, being on the Falcon and seeing her parents again... it made her think about what her life would be like if she never ran away. All of the things, little moments, that she missed would still probably be present in her everyday life.

"I remember that day."

Startled, Gideon turned around, surprised to see that her father wasn't in the cockpit. He was walking up to the tick marks, running a thumb along them as he joined the captain in the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"You almost crashed the Falcon."

A small laugh, a genuine laugh, spurted out of Gideon's lips. She looked up at Han with a smirk.

"You thought that would be the only time."

Han stared at Gideon for a moment, at her mischievous smirk and intelligent dark eyes. So many of his and Leia's qualities were mixed into her that it was sometimes hard to distinguish them.

"Maz might be right." He said suddenly, the words even sounding strange to himself, "Maybe it's time we go home."

Gideon bit her lip, uncertainty building in her chest. The only reason she was here in the first place was to bring BB-8 to the Resistance, and they were almost there. She couldn't leave Finn high and dry when Rey was captured... and her parents...

She didn't know what to do.

"Maybe." The reminiscent smile that was on her face was replaced with a frown.

Han furrowed his brows, "You don't want to?"

"I didn't say that." Gideon shook her head, "I've wanted to come back since the moment I left."

Confused, Han folded his arms, his expectant expression begging a better explanation, "Then why didn't you?"

"It doesn't matter now." Gideon shrugged, "I'm back, aren't I?"

"But will you stay?"

That was the question Gideon's been asking herself since she set foot on the Millennium Falcon when they stole it on Jakku. The second she recognized the ship, she knew that one way or another... she'd be dragged back into the very thing she ran away from.

More than anything Gideon wanted to be with her family. Why was she depriving herself of that?

_"We're here!_ " Chewie's call echoed down the corridors of the ship, ending the conversation between Gideon and Han.

As she walked back to the center of the Falcon to rejoin Finn, the captain watched her father stalk off to the cockpit. It was obvious he was really thinking about staying with the Resistance, with Leia... but Gideon was under the impression that he wouldn't do it without her.

Gideon sat down stiffly next to her friend, running another frustrated hand down her face.

"You okay?" Finn asked, immediately sensing the captain's conflict.

"No." She flat out admitted, but sent a look to him that hinted she wanted to drop the subject, "But when are we ever?"

As the Falcon landed in the hangar of the new Resistance Base, Gideon prepared herself for what was about to go down. She'd probably see her mother again... who wanted to talk... and then they'd all be told to go to the war room and strategize a plan for their next move.

She'd be roped into the very thing she was terrified of being a part of once more. What if what happened on Bulvan happened now?

What if the First Order did what they did to the Hosnian Prime system happen again?

"We have to figure out a plan to get Rey back." Finn got up as soon as they touched down, "I need your help, Gideon."

The captain followed him, having to practically jog to keep up with him, "We'll get her back, Finn."

"But how?"

"Where do you think they're taking her?"

He thought about it for a moment, and then realization hit him.

"Starkiller Base." He turned to Gideon, "She'll be there."

The doors opened, the ramp lowering. Gideon kept a brisk pace to keep up with her friend, furrowing her eyes at his sudden sureness of Rey's location. The First Order had many bases of operation, and the scavenger could be at any one of them. How could he know if that was right?

"Finn." Gideon grabbed his arm to stop him, "Are you sure? If we're going to do this... we can't go in blind. You know that."

"I'm sure." He nodded, his straight posture and confident steadiness in his eyes reassured the captain. Instantly, Gideon was sure too.

Briefly the captain looked around the Q'Dar base, her eyes sweeping over the large hangar filled with X-wings and other fighters returning from the battle on Takodana. The base was tucked securely in the valley, the main operations taking place in a stone building partially hidden with flora.

The Resistance was becoming something more than just a private operations initiative funded by the New Republic. Although their sponsor was gone, they were an army full of people who wanted to bring justice and peace to the galaxy. The entire atmosphere had changed since Gideon had been there last.

Then, she paused, her eyes widening as she saw a familiar figure climb out of the Black Squadron Leader's T-70 X-wing. Gideon blinked, rubbing her tired eyes to be sure her fatigue and wishful thinking weren't betraying her.

BB-8 pushed past Finn and Gideon, zooming as fast as his little body could take him towards his master. The droid let out a series of happy beeps, whizzing to greet the pilot who was believed to be dead by the defected Stormtrooper and the self-proclaimed captain.

Poe Dameron was alive.

Gideon was the first to take off, catching Finn off guard. Her heart was racing, a smile brightening up her face as her legs carried her as fast as they could towards her friend. The woman couldn't decide if she was happy, or grateful, or mad that he didn't contact her as soon as he managed to get to safety. The last several hours would have been a lot easier for her if she knew the closest friend she had was still alive.

"Poe!" She tackled him in a hug, causing the man to stumble back a few steps. At first, Poe was startled, having a conversation with his BB unit about the droid's adventures. However, once he realized it was Gideon, he relaxed, wrapping his arms around her and burying his head in her shoulder as she did with him.

"Dalia."

They stayed wrapped in each other's arms a moment, just happy that they were both alive and well. At point Gideon could have sworn the pilot was teary, but that was an argument for a later point in time. Besides, then she'd have to fess up about the tears that pricked her eyes as well.

Poe was alive, right here in front of her.

Pulling away, she studied him for a moment, a wave of emotions rocking her insides like a tidal wave. The last three days had been an emotional tsunami for the woman, but this joy made it all seem somehow worth it.

Gideon's dark eyes studied him for injuries, her hands reaching up to touch his face just to make sure he was real. Then, her eyes narrowed, and her hand wound up and slapped him hard across the face.

Poe winced, " _Hey_!"

He knew that she hadn't hit him hard by her standards (he had been punched in the face by Gideon before, and that _hurt_ ), but the slap still stung nonetheless.

"What was that for?" He asked, holding his cheek briefly as he looked up at her with furrowed brows.

"I thought you were _dead_ , you loser." She sighed, running a hand down her exhausted face as she tried to get a grip on her emotions.

Poe gripped her shoulders, his eyes doing a sweep over the captain. She'd been through a lot the past few hours, not to mention the last few days. It showed in her eyes, her posture, he heard it in her voice. The woman was on the brink of just letting it all consume her.

"I thought you were, too." He admitted, keeping his gaze staring into hers to keep her focus, "I woke up from the crash that night a few klicks away from the site. I saw the wreckage, but not you or Finn."

Suddenly Gideon felt guilty for the small shred of anger she held for Poe at that moment, mad at him for not letting her know he was okay. That whole time, up until Takodana, he had believed she was dead as well. She was lucky to have had Finn there with her when they discovered that Dameron might be dead. Poe went through that all alone.

"I'm sorry." She found herself saying, "I-"

"It's okay." Poe interrupted, "We're both okay, and that's all that matters right now."

He looked around the hangar for a moment, "Speaking of which, where is Finn?"

Gideon nodded off towards the Falcon, "I ran off when I saw your fighter. He might be lost."

A wave of relief washed over the Commander's face when he was reassured that Finn was still alive. His shoulders relaxed, just as they had when he saw Gideon.

"I'll go find him." He said, "I think your mother might be looking for you."

"Of course she is." The captain sighed, "Let me guess, is my father with her?"

"Yep."

"Dandy." Gideon raised her brows, "Well, duty calls."

Poe started off towards the front of the hangar, where the Millennium Falcon was parked. He then turned, grabbing the captain's attention once again.

"Talk later?"

"Find me."

Gideon stood with her arms folded across her chest, watching as Poe walked briskly through the hangar looking for his newfound friend, his orange jumpsuit-clad bush growing smaller and blending in with the sea of uniforms. When he disappeared around the corner, the woman sighed.

It was time to see her parents. 

* * *

"What do you mean I can't see the General?" Gideon quirked a brow, "She's my mother."

"Where are you credentials?"

"They blew up, along with the rest of my ship in a crash." The captain retorted, "Which happened trying to get back to Jakku to find your droid."

The security personnel at the door were not buying the captain's story. She folded her arms, tightening her glance at them as she tried to come up with a better idea to get them to let her inside.

"She literally _asked_ to see me." Gideon tried.

"Let her in, Bri'ya."

Gideon turned to see Leia walking into the war room behind her, surprised that she wasn't inside yet. Han was behind her, giving his daughter a look with raised brows, though his expression remained stern.

What did they want to talk to her about?

"Thank you." Gideon sighed, sending a look back to the personnel for a moment as the door closed behind them. For the moment, the three of them were completely alone.

The first time that had happened since she was eighteen.

"Dalia." Leia started, turning to face her daughter who stood awkwardly in the doorway, her back pressed slightly against the cool metal door, "Or would you prefer Gideon?"

The woman winced, "Mom, it-"

"It doesn't matter now." Han dismissed the idea, "We just need to talk. The three of us."

Taking a few small steps further into the room, Gideon tilted her head with curiosity, "About?"

"We need to talk about your brother."


	20. A Plan to Save Home

Gideon's chest suddenly grew so tight she could barely breathe, her eyes widening slightly at her mother's statement.

They wanted to talk about Ben? About the cold blooded murderer who had the face of her own brother? Who went by the wretched, feared name of Kylo Ren? Never in a million years did she think this conversation would come. They never talked about her brother, not since they got word that he went to the Dark Side.

"What... what about him?" Gideon asked, her voice wavering only slightly. The thought of her brother used to bring her a sense of comfort, even when she knew he had turned dark. Before she had come face to face with him just a few days ago, she had never known what he was up to.

Like what she did with the rest of her family, she cooked up pleasant stories about where they were in their lives.

Now, after seeing how cold and cruel he could be, even to his own sister, the thought of him made her sick with mixed emotions.

"I know you saw him." Leia wasn't mad, or even upset for that matter. She seemed both curious and empathetic for her daughter, who was trying to suppress the bitter hurt she was feeling by the thought of Ben.

"Tell us what happened." Han offered.

Gideon shook her head, "There's nothing to talk about. He's gone... just like you told me all those years ago. I was stupid to think any different."

"You know that's not true." Leia reasoned, "You think there's good in him. I do, too."

To hide the glassiness in her eyes, the young woman trained her eyes on the floor, working her jaw as she remained silent. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth right now... she'd lose it.

Gideon didn't know what to think at the moment. She saw the good in Ben on their mission for the First Order. Even when he was cold and closed off, he showed her kindness. When he found out she betrayed him, he was hurt by her actions. He wasn't the heartless monster the rumors of the galaxy made him out to be, yet all she could think about was the pain of him ripping her mind apart with the very gift that was meant to bring balance.

"I did." She admitted, "But I'm not sure anymore, Mom. _I don't know_."

She remembered the look on his face on Nowhere, when she had cried out his name in a last act of desperation. For all that time they spent together, he had no idea who she was, and when he did it obviously shook something within himself. When she begged him to stop, he didn't see the criminal that he'd called her time and time again, but the little innocent sister she was when he left.

Tears clung to her cheeks, which Gideon wiped away before they had the chance to fall. She was ashamed of crying in front of her parents about something as hopeless as this. The captain had cried more times in the last seventy-two hours than she had in seven years, all because of her family.

"He's lost, and- and alone..." The woman started to explain, the words spewing from her mouth like vomit, "Whatever's happened to him... it's eating him alive, and he can't..."

Gideon shook her head, unable to say anymore without risk of flat out sobbing. Her hands were clenched into tight fists at her side as she held her breath, unable to look up and see the looks on her parents faces.

"We can bring him home." Leia grabbed Gideon's white fists, uncurling her fingers before the young woman had a chance to break through her palms with her fingernails, "If you still think there's a chance we can get him back, then there's hope."

"We should never have sent him to train with Luke." Han wrapped an arm around his daughter, "That's where we lost him."

He exchanged a look with Leia, who seemed to know where those words came from. Gideon looked between her parents, her dark eyes desperate for a shred of normalcy in her life. All she wanted after all these years was her family back, all in the same room.

"I don't... I don't know." Her shoulder slumped, "What if it's too late? You don't understand how different he is... what he can do..."

"It's never too late." Leia gently squeezed Gideon's hands within her own, "For anyone."

There was a light knock on the door, snapping the three from their family moment. Gideon wiped at her eyes, clearing her throat quickly as the door opened. Snaps and Lieutenant Connix poked their heads in, both with impatient and urgent glints in their eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt." Connix said quickly, "But we need the General."

"Of course." Leia nodded, "I'll be right there."

She looked to Han and Gideon, sending them each a pointed look before she exited the room. The captain looked to her father with a raised brow, motioning for the door.

"Duty calls."

Han smirked, "I'm not a General anymore."

Gideon shook her head, "And I'm not a Commander anymore."

The woman let her father exit first, allowing him to catch up with Leia in order to get fully informed on what was going on. As Gideon exited the room, allowing the door to close behind her, she snuck to the back corners of the giant room which allowed her to see and hear the conversation at hand.

Finn was talking to Leia urgently, Poe at his side as they explained everything the defected Stormtrooper knew about the First Order's Starkiller Base. Gideon couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but the look in Finn's eye told the woman that he was desperate for any chance to get back there.

He wanted to rescue Rey.   
  


* * *

"The scan data from Snap's reconnaissance flight confirms Finn's report." Poe announced to the group, standing around the large data computer with the rest of the Resistance's officials.

"They've somehow created a hyper lightspeed laser canon built within the planet itself." Snaps added on.

"A laser canon?" Someone asked.

"We're not sure how to describe a weapon of this scale." Snaps admitted.

"It's another Death Star." Another person suggested.

"I wish that was the case, Major." Poe sighed, typing into the computer quickly, "This was the Death Star."

A three-dimensional model of the Death Star was pulled up, hovering in front of everyone's eyes. Poe typed in a few more commands, and a _much_ larger model popped up. It was nearly hundred times the size of the Empire's destroyed weapon.

"This is Starkiller Base."

The entire room nervously murmured to each other, the weapon drastically larger and more powerful than the last planet-killing weapon they've come across. Gideon nervously looked around the room, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her that the weapon would be used again soon.

"So, it's big." Han rolled his eyes, trying to calm everyone down with his confident demeanor. He sent a look to Gideon across the room, his eyes falling to the empty spot next to him. The woman bit her lip, unsure if she should even attempt to stand at the table where the biggest names in the Resistance stood.

"How is it even possible to charge a weapon of that size?"

All eyes were on Finn, who had more information on this weapon than anyone else in the room. He looked to the hologram of Starkiller Base with both fear and determination.

"It uses the power of the sun." He explained, "As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears."

"Ma'am." Someone handed Leia a report, to which the General's eyes hardened with worry as she read what was on it.

"The First Order." Leia announced, "They're charging the weapon again now. Our system in their next target."

There was a tense, general feeling of unrest throughout the room. If they didn't stop this weapon, and soon, they'd all soon be dead. Who knows how long they had until the weapon was fully charged.

"How do we blow it up?" Han asked, "There's always a way to do that."

"Han's right." Leia agreed.

"In order for that amount of power to be contained, that base has to have some kind of thermal oscillator." Satura explained, obviously having a vast amount of knowledge about different types of weaponry.

"There is one." Finn pointed to an area of the model, "Precinct 47."

Satura grew hopeful, "If we can destroy that oscillator it might destabilize the core and cripple the weapon."

"Maybe the planet."

"We'll go in there and we'll hit that oscillator with everything we've got." Poe said, the slight bounce he had on the balls of his feet displayed his determination to get this done.

"They have defensive shields that our ships cannot penetrate." The Mon Calamari doubted, losing hope of their success due to their loss of Republic support.

Han turned to the official, "We disable the shields." He turned to Finn, "Kid, you worked there. What do you got?"

Finn nodded, "I can do it."

"I like this guy." The smuggler smirked.

Gideon slowly stepped down from her position observing the spot, heading towards Finn with a plan. Although he knew he had to disable the shields, he also had another underlying goal.

"I can disable the shields." Finn explained, "I just have to be there. On that planet."

Stepping into the front of the crowd, brushing Finn's left shoulder, Gideon nodded firmly.

"I'll get you there." She said confidently, sending a look across the table to her parents. Something inside the captain told her that this was bigger than her reasons for staying out of the war. This was entire systems at risk. Entire species of lifeforms were at risk of being wiped out.

"How?" Leia asked her daughter. Although she was proud to see her step up, she was concerned about the risk she was taking.

"Don't worry about it." Gideon smirked, her eyes licking with Han and Chewbacca. She knew that she had their support.

Poe sent a smile in Gideon's direction as he spoke, "So we disable the shields, we take out the oscillator, and we blow up their big gun."

Chewie roared in satisfaction from the plan, his battle cry a indicator that the entire Resistance get moving. As Finn turned to head to the Falcon, Gideon grabbed his arm.

"Don't think I know what this is real about." She whispered, sending him a pointed look.

Finn shook his head, "We need to get Rey back. That's all I'm here for."

"I know." Gideon nodded, "But right now you've just given hope to the entire Resistance that you'd be able to help them destroy this thing. We'll get Rey, I promise, but we also need to do _this_."

Before she could hear his answer, the woman took off towards the hangar. She had to help her father get the Falcon up and running before they took off. If that ship wasn't equipped with enough fuel and power to make a swift exit... then they'd be blown up with the planet.

Her steps carried her quickly through the Resistance's base, her dark eyes furrowed in deep determination. This wasn't like anything she'd done before, even when she was at the Resistance seven years ago. This mission was going to be dangerous, but if they succeeded Gideon knew that it would all be worth it.

As she passed the weaponry, she managed to pick up a few things that would come in handy. She slipped two blasters in her belt holsters, and tucked a sturdy blade into the small pocket sewn into the inside of her boot.

"What do you think you're doing with those?" Han asked his daughter as he passed her, looking to the blasters Gideon was carefully inspecting.

"I don't know... maybe I'll save my dad's ass a few times because he forgets to watch his six." She retorted with a playful roll of the eyes, "Relax, it's just a precaution."

"If you say so." Han nodded towards the hangar, "Wheels up in five, okay?"

Gideon nodded, "Gotcha."

As he turned around to head towards his ship, the captain ran forward a few steps to catch up to him, grabbing ahold of his arm.

"Thank you." She said, her voice lowered.

"For what?"

The captain shrugged, "You know."

"I-"

" _Go_." Gideon raised her brows, "If we're going to get anywhere that ship better be ready to fly."

Han rolled his eyes, "You're just like your mother. She'll be ready to fly, Dal, don't worry."

Gideon watched her father take off in the direction of the Falcon, while she headed towards the T-70's. Her eyes searched the plethora of ships getting ready to take off, pilots and engineers running around like crazy trying to get the last few touches done of their fighters.

The woman honestly didn't know what she was doing as she walked briskly past the X-wings, her eyes searching for that familiar face, or even his droid. He probably had a dozen other things to do than talk to her before they left, his Commander status demanding he give his utmost attention to his Squadron.

However, Gideon knew that this mission was dangerous. Not everyone would make it back. After everything that's happened the last few days, the captain just wanted to see him one more time before the mission. Just in case.

After a moment her eyes found Dameron's cheery little droid being fitted into his fighter. Her heart quickened, knowing she only had a minute before he needed to be in the air. Where the heck was he?

She skidded to a halt in front of his T-70, the brunette's head whipping around in search of her best friend. Gideon had only a minute or two before she needed to head to the Falcon, her head counting down the time until the last possible second she had before she needed to head to the other side of the hangar.

"Hey!"

Poe practically ran into her, his eyes grateful as he held her shoulders with his hands. He was slightly out of breath, the adrenaline in his veins kicked up to the nines from the mission, and he'd been running all over the hangar trying to find Gideon.

"I've been looking for you." He said, "I wanted to talk to you before we left."

The woman quirked a brow, "Yeah? Me too."

His hands trailed down her arms until they gripped both of her hands, holding them within his own.

"Just... good luck." The words he wanted to say couldn't seem to leave his mouth.

Gideon searched his eyes for a moment, her heart beating loudly inside her chest. Worry and adrenaline and a sense of duty took hold of her chest and seemed to squeeze it tightly, causing her quick intake of air to hitch as she tried take a steadying breath.

"Dameron." She placed his hands by his side, knowing that they both had places they needed to be, "Come back to me in one piece, okay?"

Poe nodded, "Be safe, Dalia."

As the woman turned, her pace starting to quicken in her haste to get to the Falcon, Poe's hand found her own again. He pulled her back to him, her body turning to face his.

He placed a careful kiss on her forehead, sending a wave of warmth and reassurance into both their chests. Gideon sent him a look as she ran off, praying that when this was all over they'd both return to the base safely.

The captain skidded to a halt in front of her father's ship. Finn and Chewie were loading bags of explosives into the ship, while Han was having a moment with her mother, pulling her into a tight embrace.

As soon as they were alerted to her presence, her parents pulled apart.

"About time." Han checked his watch, "Let's go, kid."

Gideon nodded, "Yeah, I know. Sorry."

Leia turned to her, her eyes softening ever so slightly at the youthful, determined look in her daughter's usually hardened expression. Gideon dropped the sassy smirk she held for her father, taking a few steps towards the General to close the gap between them.

"You be careful, okay?" Leia's stood eye to eye with her daughter, searching the young woman's stare for the reassurance she'd return safely, "I just got you back, I don't want to lose you again."

Gideon nodded, "I know."

"And keep an eye on your father. He's always getting himself into things he can't talk himself out of."

"Hey, I heard that!"

Leia ignored him, though the sparkle in her eye told Gideon the woman was highly amused. By the way her lips parted, it almost looked as if she wanted to say one last thing before her daughter, but the general decided against it. Instead, she took a half step back, which was Gideon's signal to get going.

"Mom?" Gideon called over her shoulder as she headed towards the underbelly of the Falcon.

Leia perked her head up to know that she was listening.

"It's good to be home again."


	21. Motive

"So, what's the plan? How are we getting in?"

Finn and Gideon were seated behind Han and Chewie in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. The captain was leaning forward, barely in her seat, gripping onto the back of her father's chair with an almost giddy expression. She loved flying in the Falcon.

"Well," Han was casually flicking a few switches, keeping an eye on the navicomputer as he sent a look to his first mate, "Their shields have a fractional refresh rate. 'Keeps anything traveling slower than light speed from getting through."

Gideon beamed, "We're making our landing approach at _lightspeed_?"

"What?!" Finn was a little less enthusiastic at the idea than the young woman was, who sat back in her chair with a sly grin.

_"Stop being over dramatic."_ Chewie sassed, sending a look to Finn over his shoulder.

"Ready Chewie?" Han asked, "And... Now!"

They pulled the ship out of lightspeed, which revealed that they were headed straight for a ravine. Gideon gripped Han's seat with white knuckles, watching the plethora of near misses they had with the icy sides of a mountain.

" _Pull up! Pull up!_ "

"I am pulling up."

Gideon sent a look to Finn, her brows raised in alarm, adrenaline pulsing through her veins. She was trying her best to hang on, but was also glancing over her fathers shoulder as he worked the controls. Her eyes scanned the navicomputer for any approaching hostiles, her focus split from the sharply jolting ship.

They ran right through a forest next, icy branches and trees being snapped clean from the force of the Falcon bustling through. They needed to slow the ship down, and soon.

" _We need to_ -"

"If we get any higher, they'll see us!"

"Focus on slowing down." Gideon pointed to the edge of the cliff as they broke through the woods, "Throw up the reverse thrusters."

"No." Han pulled up on the controls, "The landing gear isn't up, we'll be toast."

As the ship neared the edge of the cliff, it slowly skidded to a halt in the snow, throwing around the group of four in their seats. Gideon nearly fell out into the aisle between seats, but managed to reorient herself in the spinning.

Everyone was silent for a moment after the ship skidded to a halt. The Falcon didn't appear to take any damage, but they were inches away from falling off a cliff. The creaking and shifting in the ship made everyone nervous.

After a moment, Han turned around, sending a stern look to Gideon.

"Don't tell your mother."  
  
  


* * *

  
  


When Gideon pictured a planet-sized weapon with the ability to explode entire solar systems, she didn't expect the place to be absolutely freezing.

Well, actually, she had a feeling, but she honestly thought the place would be more glooming and brooding than frigid. As she trudged through ankle deep snow, jogging to keep up with Han, Finn, and Chewbacca... she felt frozen to the bone, pulling one of her father's old jackets tighter around her shivering frame.

"Is there a faster... warmer way to do this?" Gideon asked, her cheeks flushed from the cold. They were peaking over the edge of a cliff, the Starkiller Base headquarters just a few klicks away.

"The flooding tunnel is just over that ridge." Finn explained, "We'll get in that way."

The captain nodded, rubbing her hands together to try and get some feeling back into them. She'd be useless in a gunfight if her fingers wouldn't work the way she needed them to.

"So what was your job while you were over here?" Han asked, looking behind them briefly to make sure no one had followed them.

"Sanitation." The defected Stormtrooper admitted, which immediately caused him to shrink under Han's frustrated glare.

Gideon watched her father grab Finn by the back of the jacket, pinning him roughly against the tower they were hiding behind.

" _Sanitation_?!" Han repeated, "Then how do you know how to disable the shields?"

"He doesn't." Gideon fessed up, shoving her hands into her pockets.

"Look, the only reason I'm here is for Rey."

"The Resistance is counting on us. The entire galaxy is counting on us." Han scolded the man.

Finn straightened his shoulders, "Look, Solo, we'll figure it out... we'll use the Force."

"That's not how the Force _works_." Gideon sent an annoyed glare to Finn, rolling her eyes.

The captain turned to her father, her eyes filled with promise and determination, "Look, Dad, we'll-"

Suddenly her entire body went numb as a chilling feeling took ahold of her chest. For a few brief moments, she felt alone.

_"Solo..._ " the voice of her brother echoed in her mind, causing her eyes to grow glassy.

Suddenly she found herself transported into the woods, laying in the snow. Everything was so cold it hurt, and in her mouth she tasted blood. Somewhere in the distance, sounding faded and underwater, she heard clashing sound of lightsabers.

"Gideon?" Finn's voice caused the image to disappear. The captain snapped out of it, her eyes focusing back on the people in front of her. With a shiver, she looked to her father, a brief moment of fear taking hold of her chest.

"He knows." She whispered, Han's eyes softening at the realization, "He knows we're here... I-"

"We need to move." Han nodded, "Come on."

The four of them picked up their pace, running through the snow and wind in the slowing fading sun. Gideon tried to shake the fear out of her mind, the image of her laying frozen in the snow caused a chilling, uneasy feeling to settle in her stomach. Whatever was going to happen while they were here... it wasn't good.

"I have a bad feeling about this." She muttered, though she was positive nobody heard her.

It took them nearly ten minutes to sneak through the flooding tunnel, bringing them up through a hallway in the heart of the First Order's base. Finn, although only had a small job, seemed to know every inch of the base, leading them around corners to avoid patrolling Stormtroopers.

Once they made it to a main corridor, it was clear they didn't have too much time until they got caught. Finn led them into an elevator, which he promised would lead them closer to where they could lower the shields.

"We don't have much time until the weapon's charged." Gideon said, sending a cautious look to Finn, "You better have a plan."

The elevator doors opened to reveal a lone Stormtrooper waiting to board. Before they had time to react, Chewbacca shot them with his crossbow. The trooper went flying back, their armor crunching on impact with the wall.

"The longer we're in here, the less luck we're going to have." Han noted, walking out of the elevator with his blaster raised, "The shields?"

"Yeah, I have an idea about that." Finn lead them to the left, where they ducked around the corner to keep from being seen.

Gideon grabbed one of her blasters, taking the safety off as they snuck around. Her heart was in her throat, her pulse thumping loudly as she kept up with the group. The last time she was in a First Order base was when Finn rescued her and Poe. With her brother now aware of the presence of both her and Han... she expected him to eventually find them.

And when he did... Gideon didn't know what she was going to do.

"We're going to find Captain Phasma. She has the clearance to get to the shields and disable them." Finn seemed a bit excited at the idea of running into his old boss, "She'll lower them for us."

"I take it you don't like her?" Gideon hid an amused smirk as they made down another hallway.

"No." Finn shook his head, "I hate her."

He held out an arm to keep them from going any further, nodding to a highly decorated Stormtrooper walking down the corridor. Finn turned to Chewbacca, giving a curt nod of the head to the Wookiee in agreement to what he had to do.

As Captain Phasma walked by them, Chewie immediately grabbed her, wrapping an arm around her throat to keep her from alerting anyone of their presence. Gideon and Finn trained their blasters on her as they quickly headed in the other direction.

"This way." Finn whispered, ducking into a control room. They shut the doors behind them, and Gideon stood guard, one blaster trained on Phasma while the other aimed at the door.

"Do you remember me?" He asked his former captain, marveling over the fact that the woman was at gunpoint.

"FN-2187." Captain Phasma spat out.

"Well, the name's _Finn_ now, and I'm in charge now, Phasma." Finn enjoyed the moment a little too much, "I'm in charge now, I'm in charge."

"Okay." Han reeled the man back in with a hand on his shoulder.

"You're going to lower the shields." Finn pushed the woman towards the control panel with the barrel of his blaster.

"No." Phasma said plainly, "You think you can simply make me?"

The blaster the defected Stormtrooper had whirred to life, his finger pressing slightly against the trigger. He bumped the barrel of the blaster against her silver helmet.

"Lower the shields, or I'll blast that bucket right off your head." He threatened.

"You're making a big mistake." Phasma sassed, staring at the control panel, the vacant glance in her Stormtrooper helmet giving her a cold, heartless look. Gideon assumed her face had that look underneath her helmet as well.

"Do it." Finn ordered, Chewie growling in agreement behind him.

Captain Phasma turned to the controls, doing what Finn had told her to do. Gideon lowered the blaster trained on the First Order captain, sending a hopeful look to Finn as he walked over to her and Han.

"Solo," Finn said to the smuggler, "If this works we're not going to have a lot of time to find Rey."

"Don't worry, kid, we won't leave without her." Han reassured him, giving the former Stormtrooper a reassuring smirk.

The computer beeped, turning everyone's attention to Captain Phasma, who was able to lower the planet's shields, "You can't be so stupid as to think this will be easy."

Gideon fixed her blaster back on her, her brows narrowing. She'd known this woman for five minutes and she wanted to put two blaster bolts through her skull. How had Finn been able to deal with this for most of his life?

"My troops will storm this block and kill you all."

"I disagree." Finn held a blaster under the Captain's chin, "What do we do with her?"

A conniving smirk spread across Han's features, "Is there a garbage shoot? Trash compactor?"

Captain Phasma snapped to attention, almost shocked at the idea of being thrown down a garbage shoot. Gideon chuckled at the woman's sudden nerves, going to her other side to escort her out of the room.

"There is." Finn grinned, sending a look to Gideon as they pushed Phasma forward.

"You know, Phasma." Gideon found amusement in taunting the First Order member, "I think you'll find it quite lovely down there. At home, maybe? The smell will be enough to cover up your own stench."

Captain Phasma stiffened, her helmet turning slightly to face Gideon, "Ren was right. You're all bark and no bite."

The young woman paused, her jaw locking with annoyance at the mention of her brother. He already knew they were here, and was probably tearing apart the base looking for them. Gideon didn't need to be reminded of the mission they had together.

"What's she talking about?" Finn asked, still in the dark about how Gideon had been captured by the First Order in the first place. She didn't answer him, shoving Phasma further down the hall, her face flushed with anger.

"Your scum of a friend went on a mission with Kylo Ren." Captain Phasma was relishing in the fact that this could disrupt their whole plan, "They worked together."

"Alright bucket head," Han grabbed Captain Phasma by the shoulder, pushing her down the trash chute before she could try and start anymore arguments, "Down you go."

"Gideon, is that why you were at the First Order?" Finn asked, turning his attention to the captain, "You worked with _him_?"

The captain looked around the hall with a hint of paranoia, afraid that they'd attract too much attention. Her eyes went to Finn's, wide and soft with an apology.

"They didn't give me a choice." Gideon explained, "They wanted to find the location of the Resistance... by working with him, I was able to warn them."

Finn shook his head, not believing her explanation.

"I'm not proud of it." She huffed, "They were planning on killing me if I cooperated or not."

"Then how are you still alive?"

Gideon could feel Han's eyes burning into the side of her skull, which pulled her attention from the conversation. Her father pointed to his watch, a sign that they needed to find Rey and get out of there as soon as possible.

Besides, she didn't think her father was ready for the truth to spill. Not everyone knew that the feared Kylo Ren used to be the determined, selfless Ben Solo who went away to become a Jedi with Luke Skywalker when he was ten. Now wasn't the time to talk about that, either, when they were in the middle of destroying the base.

Suddenly, it hit Gideon that her brother might not make it out of this alive. If they were going to blow up the base, then they'd blow up everyone on this planet as well. It didn't occur to Gideon to make the connection. A cold, horrible person or not... he was family.

But he was already too far gone.

"We have to go." Gideon said, her lips pulled into a grim, tight line, "We have to find Rey."

The color drained from her face as she walked down the hall, blasters gripped in her hands with white knuckles.

The truth, as much as Finn wanted it, would have to wait.


	22. Cold-Blooded

Gideon didn't like this plan at all, anymore. The longer they snuck around the Starkiller Base, the more she felt like they were in danger. A sick, uneasy feeling twisted her stomach in knots. Her neck and back were clammy with a cold, sticky sweat that sent chills down her spine.

All she wanted was to get off this planet as soon as possible.

"We'll use the charges to blow up that blast door. I'll go in and draw fire, but I'm going to need cover." Finn explained in a low voice, his eyes nodding to Gideon and Han confidently.

"Finn, are you sure about this?" Gideon asked, her brows knit together with unease.

"Hell no." He admitted, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet, "I'll go in, and try to find Rey."

Gideon frowned, "I'll come with you, it's too dangerous to go alone."

Her friend shook his head, squeezing her shoulder gently with a surprisingly steady hand, "No, as soon as we go in, the troopers will be on our tail. We have to be ready for that. Gideon, you have to cover the south-"

The captain stopped listening at the slight nodding motion of her father's head, into the hangar behind them. Finn, who was too engrossed in his plan, didn't notice the captain turn her head to see what her father was looking at.

Rey.

She was climbing up the side of the hangar, a Stormtrooper's blaster gun strapped to her back. Relief washed over Gideon, her shoulders relaxing at the sight of her friend, who appeared to be unharmed.

"Why are you doing this?" Finn mimicked the nodding motion Han was doing with a flare of over-embellishment, "Hmm? Why are you doing this? I'm trying to come up with a plan."

Gideon grabbed Finn by the shoulder and turned him around, pointing to where Rey was climbing up the side of the hangar. Relief and happiness washed over his face, his eyes softening at the sight of his closest friend. The captain was glad they were able to find Rey, because she was honestly worried about how Finn would react if they weren't able to rescue her. She was mentally preparing herself for that possibility, too.

Since Finn had helped her and Poe escape, she figured her brother would keep a closer eye on his prisoners.

" _Rey_!" Finn breathed, grabbing Gideon by the wrist and dragging her down the hall, an almost childish excitement taking over his every move. The captain had to cast a look over her shoulder, sending a wide-eyed look to her father and Chewbacca, motioning to their blasters with her free hand. They needed to cover them if they were going to safely make it to the scavenger.

"Finn, slow down." Gideon yanked her wrist free of his hold, "And stop yanking my-"

" _Shh_!" Finn quieted her, "You'll get us caught."

Rolling her eyes, she had to keep from letting out a loud, sarcastic laugh, " _I'll_ get us caught? What about-"

" _Both of you shut up_." Chewie warned, aiming his crossbow around the corner before the four of them proceeded. He sent a pointed look to Han, who simply nodded in agreement. Whatever it was they were agreeing on, Gideon was certain it was about her and Finn- who had been bickering like two siblings ever since they've met.

Carefully, they turned another corner, nearly running into the escaped scavenger herself. Rey gasped in surprise, shocked to see that anyone had come for her.

"Are you alright?" Han immediately asked, in a tone he often used when talking with his daughter. Rey relaxed, lowering her blaster when she realized she ran into people she could trust. Han's words comforted her.

"Yeah." She nodded, the gears turning in her brain as she processed why the four of them were on Starkiller Base.

"What happened?" Finn grabbed her shoulders, "Did he hurt you?"

Gideon winced at his words, another uneasy wave of fear and frustration pulling at her stomach. She tried to hide the pained look from Finn and Rey, but both of them had seen it.

"Finn, Gideon... what are you _doing_ here?" She asked, her voice a careful whisper.

"We came back for you." Gideon explained, sharing a look with Finn. One brow was scrunched in suspicion of her reaction to his comment about Kylo Ren, but he seemed more preoccupied with the joy of being reunited with Rey.

" _It was Finn's idea_." Chewie and Han were watching the halls for any incoming Stormtroopers, letting the reunited trio have a moment of reunion before they continued their mission.

Rey's eyes softened at the Wookiee's words, completely taken off guard. Her breath was caught in her throat, and it was then Gideon realized that no one had ever come back for Rey, that she'd been so desperate to get back to Jakku even though she knew deep down no one would be looking for her. It broke Gideon's heart, causing the captain to reach out and grab the scavenger's hand.

"Thank you." Rey wrapped both Gideon and Finn into a tight embrace, her eyes teary. She buried her head in Finn's shoulder, the defected Stormtrooper tightening his arms around his two friends.

Gideon was taken back by being hugged as well, knowing that it was Finn's idea to rescue Rey. It had been his main priority from the very beginning, ever since he saw her being carried onto Kylo Ren's ship. However, the captain realized that she had provided something else for Rey, something that they've shared over the last day or so.

Gideon gave Rey her family.

"How did you get out?" Finn asked as Gideon pulled away, her stomach doing another flip as she sent a look to her father. They had to move on, and soon.

"I can't explain it." Rey shook her head in disbelief, "And you wouldn't believe me."

Han interrupted the reunion with a desperate quirk in his brow. They were running out of time.

"Escape now, hug later?"   
  
  


* * *

Blasters locker and loaded, the group of five was sprinting towards the Falcon, past the oscillator that the Resistance's fleet was trying to destroy. TIE Fighters and other First Order fighters were swarming the X-Wings, who were desperately trying to do two things at once.

Gideon stopped running, the icy wind burning her throat with every harsh intake of breath, her pulse high from their run away from the base's main operations building. Her dark eyes looked up at the aerial fight above them.

T-70's were being shot down all around her, only half a dozen or so fighters from each squadron hanging on. They were being badly overwhelmed at enemy fire, making it impossible for them to destroy ten oscillator and destabilize the weapon.

"Dalia, what are you doing?" Han called, noticing his daughter had stopped running a few paces behind them.

"This Dalia-Gideon thing is getting very confusion." Finn whispered to Rey over the whizzing of the fighters above them.

"We can't leave them like this." Gideon breathed, tucking a loose curl behind an ear, "They'll never destroy the weapon in time."

Han looked up at the sky, his eyes assuming the same worry as his daughter's. She was right. If they didn't have help in destroying the weapon's oscillator, then all of this would have been for nothing. They needed to destroy this weapon, or they'd have no home to return to.

Her eyes found Poe's ship, his unique piloting style only recognizable to the captain trudging through the snow below him. Panic seized her chest as she watched him avoid enemy fire, try and backup his squadron, take out the ion canons, and shoot his target all at the same time.

Gideon could imagine the anxiety coursing through his veins, watching his fellow pilots die but knowing he couldn't spare a moment to mourn them. It always left him eerily quiet after a battle, especially one with large losses. His shoulders always seemed tense under the burden of being a leader.

"Finn's got a bag full of explosives." Han reminded Gideon, "Maybe we should use them."

"If we destabilize the oscillator, then all we need is a missile or two from them to finish the job." Gideon's eyes widened at her father's idea, "This might actually work."

Sliding one of her blasters into her holster, she handed the other one to Rey. The scavenger had discarded her Stormtrooper weapon on their escape from the base, and if they were going to continue to sneak around Starkiller Base, she needed a weapon.

"Finn, give me the bag. Chewie and I will set up the explosives along the oscillator's supports. We'll need a way to get in, so you three are going to go find a way to open the door." Han explained, "We'll meet back at the Falcon."

The defected Stormtrooper handed the smuggler his bag of dormant explosives, nodding to Han with a flare of respect for the man.

"Sounds like a plan." Gideon nodded to her father, a pang of worry embedding themselves into her eyes. She looked to her father, afraid to separate from him for the rest of the mission. She'd grown so accustomed to being by his side the last few hours that she wanted to change her mind and go with him.

"Dalia." Han smiled, "Go. It's not the first time I've blown something up."

A smile spread across her lips, "Not my first rodeo, either."

She jogged to catch up go Finn and Rey, who were sneaking around the side of the oscillator's control station. Sending a look over her shoulder, she saw Chewbacca and her father head into the oscillator.

They could do this.

"Rey, you open the doors. Finn and I will cover you." Gideon breathlessly explained as they snuck up on the door, "The sooner we get this done, the better."

"Got it." Rey nodded, peaking around the corner. Two armed Stormtroopers stood guard at the entrance, and there were probably two more on the inside of the door.

The scavenger counter to three on her fingers, and on three they started their approach. Gideon took out the first two Stormtroopers, and as the door opened for the second pair to protect the control center, Finn swiftly shot them down.

The captain led the trio into the building, Rey and Finn running closely at her shoulders. Despite the unbelievably frigid weather, sweat had gathered on Gideon's brow and neck, dampening the edges of her hairline. As she attacked, it wasn't as confidently as she liked. She just wanted to get off this planet sooner than later.

The halls were narrow and dark, the cold air like a slap in the face as it cascaded down the corridor. As soon as no immediate threats were present, Rey took the lead, seeming to know exactly where to go.

"We need to unlock the doors." Rey said, almost as if she were repeating it to herself. She ducked so Finn could shoot a Stormtrooper coming from the hall to their left, and then headed that way. Her eyes were both deep in thought and hyper-aware of what was going on around her.

"Yeah." Gideon nodded, "How do we do that?"

At the end of the hall was a control panel with three Stormtroopers manning the room. At the sound of pounding footsteps they turned around, immediately blasting at the trio with their blasters.

Finn took out one, while Gideon clipped the other's helmet. The middle trooper was too close to shoot, and the captain tackled them to the ground to give Finn and Rey a chance at the controls. Once she had the clunky white armor pinned, she shot twice into their chest.

Rey sent a look to Gideon, almost impressed at the captain dusted herself off, sorely getting to her feet. She knelt down under the controls, her hands feeling around the mechanical parts until she found what she was looking for.

Her fingers wrapped around a small, rounded instrument attached into the main configuration panel, and started pulling. The metal creaked, but didn't give to Rey's pull at first.

As the scavenger worked on pulling out the piece of machine that would get Han and Chewie into the oscillator, Gideon stood guard at the door, pacing. Nerves were causing her heart to race, and filled her mind with a million things to worry about.

That's what was so different about being on her own. When Gideon worked a job, or even snuck around on her own time, it was just her. She didn't have any friends at the time, except Poe, and didn't always feel so nervous.

On her own Gideon had nothing to lose, and now everything she held close to her heart was at stake.

The clanking release of the instrument Rey was pulling from the console sent a surge of urgency through Gideon. Her chest tightened, her eyes widened, and suddenly she felt as if someone else was in control.

_Find them._

It was her brother's voice, muddled and altered by the monstrous mask he used to conceal his face from the galaxy. Gideon could feel his coldness, his desperation. Not only did he know that she and Han were here... but he was particularly drawn to Rey. What his plans were, she didn't know. And she didn't want to find out.

"He knows." Gideon whispered, her voice low and uncertain, "He _knows_."

Rey snapped her attention to the captain, getting to her feet. She felt the same tug that Gideon had felt, only milder. Slowly she walked over to her, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Gideon?" Rey nodded her head slowly to get her attention, "What is it?"

The woman didn't seem to react to her name. She instead just repeated the same phrase herself, deep in thought. The gears in her head were turning, wondering what her brother's motives were. Where was he? What was he doing?

Gideon closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, to _think_.

Suddenly she was running, her legs taking her in desperate strides out of the building. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was vibrating in her chest. Panic and curiosity and anger surged through her like a drug, and the last few days she was its victim.

Finn and Rey called out to her behind her, trying to catch up to the woman. However, Gideon was fast, and desperate. Her mind wasn't set on anything but getting to her father.

She had to get there before her brother found him. Gideon had no idea what he wanted with Han, confused about where his loyalties were since they last interacted.

And both her parents were hopeful of bringing him home.

The icy, unforgiving weather was like a slap in the face as Gideon exited the building, doing a one-eighty to get a better look at the oscillator. Sweat blurred her vision, her breath icy and dry in her throat. Exhaustion rattled her bones, but Gideon immediately sprung back into action.

She found herself climbing a ladder, a maintenance once with rungs built into the side of the building. The metal was smooth and slick with ice, numbing Gideon's hands and providing no completely sturdy hold for her boots to keep a hold on. She had to stop once or twice to shake out her hands and catch her breath, the ground growing further and further away from her.

As she Gideon feverishly pulled herself to the top, her hands numbed and cramped from the climb, she was half expecting to see her father or Chewie, or at least one of them, at the top. However, all that lay in front of her was an empty balcony, a door opening up to the inside of the oscillator.

One hand gripped her blaster, the other reaching up to open the door. Rey and Finn's calls echoed below her, half yells and half whispers begging her to come back with them to the Falcon. They had to get out of there, follow the plan.

But Gideon didn't listen, driven by the worry and curiosity of needing to find her father before her brother did. She opened the door, which opening up a platform shooting out about five feet from the wall into the large abyss of the weapon's oscillator. There was a rail separating her from the scene below, and no way for her to get down.

Below her, Han Solo was walking slowly over to the large bridge that spanned the abyss of the weapon, leading straight into the heart of the planet. The captain turned around, looking for a quicker way to get to him, but she'd have to climb all the way down the ladder and find another way in. By now the place was probably swarming with Stormtroopers.

" _Ben_!"

Gideon froze at the sound of her father's voice, her eyes widening as she turned around, slowly. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she took a step closer to the rail of the balcony, focusing her attention on the unfolding scene below her.

She saw Han walking across the bridge that spanned the gap of the Starkiller weapon. He was meeting Kylo Ren in the middle.

Finn and Rey had finally caught up with the captain, breathing hard but trying to keep it quiet. Gideon didn't notice them until the scavenger gently grabbed her wrist, lowering it back by her side.

"Gideon." Rey whispered to the woman, who noticed that she was raising her blaster up at her brother, "Don't."

She watched as Kylo turned around, stiff from the sound of Han's voice.

"Han Solo." He said, his voice muddled from the mask, "I've been waiting for this day for a long time."

Slowly, Han approached Kylo, "Take off that mask. You don't need it."

His voice was scolding, but also carried the desperation of truce. He was trying to reconcile, to have the possibility of bringing Ben Solo home. That very thought made Gideon feel very, very uneasy, and even more scared.

"What do you think you'll see if I do?" Kylo asked, unmoving.

Han stopped. Gideon could feel his worry, his doubts- and most importantly, his duty as a father. He wanted to save his son, to bring him home. The woman leaned forward and gripped the railing with white knuckles, watching. The cold was slowly numbing her fingers and toes, her chest tight from breathing cold air. However, no matter how cold she was sweat continued to drip down the side of her face.

"The face of my son." Han called to Kylo, his voice cracking ever so slightly.

Slowly the fallen Jedi reached up, taking off his helmet. Gideon saw the face of her brother, of Ben, stare back at her father with a cold sinister glare.

"Your son is gone." Kylo said, his voice echoing the hurtful phrase across the metal abyss, "He was weak and foolish, like his father... so I destroyed him."

Gideon took another step forward, but Finn caught her by the elbow. They didn't want to make a wrong move and risk her father being hurt.

Han continued to walk towards Kylo, "That's what Snoke wants you to believe, but it's not true. My son is _alive_."

_Please_. Gideon begged in her mind, hoping that anyone would hear her, _Please_.

All she wanted was to have her family back. To have her brother by her side again, to have her father and mother together again. She craved that wholesome love, that nurturing feeling she hasn't felt since she was a child. However, she didn't want this to be too good to be true.

"No." Kylo shook his head, "The Supreme Leader is wise."

They were nearly face to face, Kylo Ren and Han Solo. Gideon could sense her brother's internal conflict, and her father's desperate pleading to have his son back.

"Snoke is only using you for your power." Her father tried to reason with the fallen knight in front of him, "When he gets what he wants he'll crush you... You know it's true."

Kylo stared at Han for a moment, something changing behind his eyes, "It's too late-"

"No, it's not." Han took a step forward, just a foot away from his son, standing eye to eye, "Leave here with me. Come home. We _miss_ you."

Gideon's heart twisted at those words, because she knew how true they were. Their family was never the same after her brother went to the Dark Side of the Force. She looked to her brother, his eyes glassy and scared. Her heart shattered at how conflicted and broken he looked, his eyes pleading for help as they bore into Han's. For a split second she thought he looked up at her, which caused a wave of unease and expectancy to wash over her, twisting inside her stomach.

"I'm being torn apart. I wanna be free of this pain." Kylo said, his voice cracking.

He looked so much like Ben in this moment. Gideon could feel her brother's good-natured presence. She could feel his kindness and love start to poke through. She took a deep breath, hope starting to lift the worry and fear that twisted in her stomach.

"I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength to do it." He admitted painfully to his father, opening up about his fear, "Will you help me?"

"Yes." Han said immediately, nodding, "Anything."

He'd do anything for him, for either of his kids. Everyone present in that room, Stormtrooper or not, could feel the intense and unbroken love Han Solo felt for his family. Gideon melted inside, though a part of her continued to remain tense and conflicted. She held her breath, taking only the tiniest of inhaled and exhales. Like Finn and Rey close beside her, she was watching carefully.

Ben dropped his helmet, letting it clatter on the floor beside him. With a shaky hand, he held out his lightsaber to Han. Behind them, the world started to darken as the weapon drained the last of the sun's energy. They were running out of time.

Both Ben and Han had a hand on the lightsaber, silent as they stared at each other. Gideon watched in curiosity, anxiety eating away at her insides. Would this be it? Would Ben come home with them? She almost wanted to call out to them, but something held her back.

Then, happening too fast, Ben turned the lightsaber and lit it, the red blade going straight through Han Solo's chest.

" _No_!" Gideon screamed out, her knees feeling weak as the scene unfolded in front of her. Ben pushed the lightsaber deeper into his father's chest, pushing Han back a step.

Pain, betrayal, confusion, and unwavering love crossed over Han's face- all hidden underneath his shock. He just stared at his son, words left unspoken on his parted lips. Somewhere in the oscillator Chewbacca roared, his voice choked with pain.

The world around Gideon was numb as she felt the life leave her father. As he let out his last breath, he reached up, caressing his son's cheek before Kylo, eyes cold and blank again, pushed him off the platform.

Limply, still exhaling his last breath, Han Solo fell down into the cold abyss of the Starkiller weapon.

Dead.


	23. Last Stand

" _No_."

It was like being hit square in the chest with a missile, piercing her heart and taking her breath away. Gideon choked back sobs, Han's death ripping through her soul and leaving a ruined mess behind.

Without even thinking she grabbed her blaster, unloading shot after shot on her brother, her blaster shaking in her hands. A number of harsh profanities left her mouth, barely understandable through the quavering of her voice and the thick undertone of her suppressed sobs.

"We gotta go." Finn said, tugging on Gideon's arm.

"No." Gideon sobbed, anger and grief ripped through her heart. Her knees were wobbly and weak. When she breathed it felt like she was drowning.

Rey grabbed the woman's blaster, tossing it away from her her. She was holding back a sob, but tears were present in her eyes, leaving her face pale and blotchy as they trailed down her cheeks.

" _Dalia_." The name bounced around in Gideon's head, being spoken by a dozen different people, "We have to go."

Rey grabbed Gideon's arm gently, her frigid, trembling hands somehow bringing the captain a sense of warm comfort. Slowly, Gideon realized that the longer they stayed here the more her father's death would be in vain. She nodded, the motion of turning away from the scene proved to be more painful than agreeing to leave.

She said nothing as they climbed down from the balcony, running through the frigid temperature, which was even colder now that the sun was gone. Gideon shivered, the tears on her cheeks feeling frozen as they ran. They had to get back to the Millennium Falcon.

They started for the woods, all three desperately climbing over rocks and running around trees, just over ankle deep in snow. Gideon's body was going through the motions, her mind elsewhere as she sniffled behind her friends, her entire body feeling heavy with lead.

"This way." Finn nodded to their west. He gave both Rey and Gideon a reassuring look, trying to keep their spirits up until they got out of there.

_This isn't over. It's far from over._

Gideon stopped. Red tinted the edges of her vision as she stared unforgivingly at the cloaked figure standing a few paces in front of them.

With the lighting of a blood red light saber, the unforgiving face of Kylo Ren stared back at them.

"We're not done yet." He said, like this was some sort of game.

Gideon shook with anger, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her hands, completely numb from the cold, were clenched so tightly into fists her nails dug into her palm. She couldn't feel the stinging sensation, or the blood that seeped under her nails.

"You're a _monster_." Rey shouted at him through a sob. The girl was heartbroken, losing the closest thing she's had to a father figure in a long, long time.

"It's just us now." Kylo Ren was banging his fist into a blaster wound in his side, one that Gideon or Chewbacca probably hit him with. Blood dripped onto the snow covered ground, "Han Solo can't save you now."

Gideon reached for her blaster, livid, but forgot that Rey had taken it and thrown it off the side of the balcony when she was shooting at Kylo Ren, and had the other one with her now.

Rey raised the weapon, her finger wrapped around the trigger, enough anger and grief inside of her to want to end this. One pull of the trigger, and Han's death would be avenged.

However, Kylo Ren had other plans. He launched the scavenger harshly into the air, the girl screaming with fright and frustration as she soared over Finn and Gideon's head. She was about thirty feet up when she collided harshly with a tree, and fell limply all the way to the ground.

" _Rey_!"

Gideon and Finn were by her side in an instant. The former Stormtrooper had his arms on her shoulders, trying to shake the unconscious girl awake.

Moving numbly, her eyes red and clouded with a rage that seemed to radiate off of her like steam, Gideon swiftly removed her jacket. It was one of Han's, which she draped around Rey's shoulders to provide the girl with some protection from the elements.

She turned, ignoring the powerful cold that took ahold of her body. Hands curling tighter into their fists, red blood pooled in her palms from her nails breaking through the first few layers of skin. Kylo stared at Gideon, who stood fuming several feet away from him. Her entire body radiated a rage she didn't know if she could contain, trembling as she choked back her sobs.

"Dalia Solo." Kylo grinned, "Always the fighter, aren't you? Or at least you... _try_ to be."

"How _could_ you?!" Gideon yelled, her vision blurring with tears as they spilled over onto her cheeks, "How could you look him in the eye, a man who trusted and loved you, and slaughter him?"

"The same way I am looking you in the eye right now." He sneered, "Easily."

"I thought there was good in you." Gideon sobbed, "I looked into your eyes, and I saw good, and love, and kindness. I saw _Ben_."

" _Don't_ say that name." Kylo spat, pointing his lightsaber at the woman's heart, "Ben Solo is dead, like his father, and like you'll soon be."

The woman uncurled one of her fists, turning it so that her palm faced Finn and Rey behind her. She kept her eyes trained on Kylo, who hadn't noticed her slow, subtle movement.

"He _trusted_ you. I was so convinced that there was a hint of my brother left inside of you, that I let him believe it too." Gideon wanted to scream, to cry, to raise her blaster and shoot the man in front of her until he was a charred mass of nothing, "Dad wanted you to come home."

Kylo Ren twitched his face into a sinister grin, "There is so much anger and hate inside of you. It's eating you up, I can see it all the way from here." He took a step towards her, "It's your fault that he's dead... and you know that."

Gideon twitched the fingers of her open palm, and within moments the cold hilt of the lightsaber was clenched within her fingers. It was heavier than she'd thought it'd be, but she knew it would have the perfect balance for what she was about to engage herself in.

"I do." She sniffed, lighting the lightsaber so that it's bright blue glow lit up her side of the clearing, "I also know that you're right."

"What?" Finn was confused, his head snapping in the captain's direction.

"What?" Kylo raised a brow, intrigued.

"You're right in saying that the man I am looking at is not Ben Solo, because I know who my brother is... and you're not him." She raised the lightsaber in a position of attack, "Which will make it easier to do this."

The two siblings engaged their blades as they lunged forward. Kylo Ren knew what Gideon's intentions were. He had been studying the Force long enough to know what anger and hate can do to a person, how it can bring them to their demise if they didn't channel their feelings the right way.

Gideon, who was usually pretty good in a fight, was making desperate moves in order to defend herself from Kylo's red blade. She was mostly on the defense, blocking blow after blow, her technique sloppy and amateur.

Although she was the granddaughter of Anakin Skywalker, one of the strongest Jedi of his generation, she wasn't meant for the same path. She possessed a slight sensitivity with the Force, but she wasn't as gifted as her brother.

She wasn't meant for this, it was obvious.

When her left side was vulnerable, Kylo rammed his shoulder into her and checked her back a few feet. Gideon fell backwards, raising the lightsaber up to block his sneaky blow. Their blades were so close to her face she could feel their heat, hotter and more intense than any sun she's been under.

The woman kicked her foot up, digging her heel into his ribcage, shoving him back. Quickly she stood, already out of breath and sweating from the fight.

"You're a fool to fight with a weapon that doesn't belong to you." Kylo grumbled as he recovered from her blow.

Gideon tightened her grip on the hilt, "What, you think this belongs to _you_?"

She made a viscous attack, swiping and dodging angrily at Kylo. With a trick move, she managed to drag the tip of the blade across his outer thigh, which weakened his leg and caused him to fall to a knee. In return Kylo swiped the hilt, using it to put power behind his backhand. Metal collided with her nose, and a desperate drop to the ground saved her from meeting the more deadly end of the weapon.

"Do you think you were more of a child to them than Ben was?" Kylo asked bitterly, staggering to his feet, "You ran away from them. You abandoned your family."

Gideon wiped the blood that hugged her nostrils, fresh from being hit in the face, "You ran away, too."

Raising his hand, Kylo lifted Gideon into the air, her air supply immediately cut off. She squirmed, keeping her grip tight on her weapon as he slowly approached her. He brought her to his height so that they were eye to eye.

"I am going to enjoy killing you." He said, "And then after you, I'm going to kill your friends."

Gideon choked and wheezed for air, her eyes bulging inside her head. Her lips, already pale from the cold, had lost nearly all color, matching the same shade of her pale and sweaty face.

With a pained expression, Gideon managed to twist the lightsaber around without slicing her hand off. Her vision was slowly being taken over by black and white clouds, her hearing growing muddled. She trembled in Kylo's grasp, shivering from the bitter cold.

Just before she could shove the lightsaber into his side, she was thrown across the clearing just as Rey was. The lightsaber was knocked from her hand as she slammed into a tree, the impact causing sharp pains to radiate from her spine, traveling to her ribs and all four limbs.

At first she couldn't feel anything as she crumbled into the snow. It was all a numbing, crippling pain that made her nearly gag into the frosty forest floor. She shakily rolled over, taking a few gasping breaths to keep from screaming out the agony she was feeling.

Her eyes made contact with the lightsaber a few feet away from her. She saw Kylo Ren eye it almost hungrily, his eyes glistening in satisfaction at having subdued the woman.

As she broke into a crawl, Gideon reached a hand to call the weapon back to her. She needed to finish this, not only to bring justice to her father, but to all of the innocent lives Kylo Ren is responsible for taking. Looking to Finn, who was still kneeling beside Rey with a worried glint his eye, Gideon realized she needed to do it for them as well.

Finn looked over at her, still trying to wake Rey, his eyes filled with an anger and fear towards her brother that she didn't understand. The amount of love and care he held for both her and Rey was shown in his glassy eyes and the way he gave Gideon a reassuring nod. She had to get up. She had to fight for them.

Gideon just didn't know how much longer she would last.

The old Jedi weapon lifted from its spot in the snow a few feet away from her, starting to make its way over to Gideon. However, she didn't notice the dark figure looming over her, red lightsaber swiping down quickly.

Gideon saw it happen before she actually felt it. The crackling red weapon cut through her arm like butter, severing it completely. One moment her arm was there, and the next it thumped into the snow, dead weight.

Burning, excruciating pain exploded from the site of her severed arm. Gideon wailed out in agony, collapsing into the snow. She could feel Kylo standing over her, she could feel the heat of his blade poised and ready to strike her down for the last time.

Then, he paused. With his foot he kicked the woman over, so that she was laying on her back and facing him.

"You know what..." he raised her to her feet. Gideon whimpered in pain, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Kylo laughed at her pain, "I won't kill you, so you can live with the regret of today."

While one hand kept her raised in the air, the other whacked her across the face. Gideon gasped, her head whipping to the side. Stars exploded into her vision, fizzling into blackness.

Then, Kylo tossed her aside, leaving her crumpled and limp in the freezing snow as consciousness slowly slipped away.


	24. Numb

In all honesty, Gideon thought she was dead. Her body was numb, so numb it burned, but she was staring up at the darkened sky with an almost peaceful hum in her chest. The trees were swaying, shaking, snow sticking to her eyelashes. In a way it almost serene, comforting.

However, the sticky, hot pain that engulfed what remained of her left arm was a constant, throbbing reminder that she was still alive, though she didn't know for how much longer. Her heavy eyelids were dropping, her body so stiff she couldn't bring herself to move. All she could do was force herself to breathe and look up at the the sky.

"Gideon?"

Cold hands, which for some reason seemed warm to the captain, gently shook her right shoulder. A pained gasp escaped Gideon's lips, which were blue and cracked and quivering with a shiver. Her eyes hesitantly broke away from the calming scene above her, turning towards the sound of the voice.

Rey was kneeling between her and Finn, looking scared and cold. Gideon's jacket was wrapped around her shoulders, damp from the snow, and sticking out of the jacket pocket was the lightsaber.

"Gideon."

The captain started moving, slightly, long spats of chills raking her body now that her mind was suddenly aware that she was not, in fact dead. Gideon was very much alive.

"Rey..." her voice was quiet and strained, the end hitching in alert as the memory of the past few hours suddenly hit her. She tried to blink away tears, but they leaked slowly and hot from the corners of her eyes. 

Slowly she looked around, picking up her head. There must have been an earthquake, because a huge chasm separated the three of them from Kylo Ren. He was laying in the snow, his back facing them. Red stained the snow around his right side.

"Did you...?" The captain trailed off, her dark eyes glassy and bloodshot. She didn't know why her voice sounded so upset, she was set on killing the fallen Jedi just moments before she was knocked unconscious.

"No." Rey grabbed Gideon's hand, "He's not."

"Is Finn?" The captain's eyes widened at his unconscious condition, so still he looked dead. She tried to push herself up, but she accidentally pushed down with her left shoulder, the exposed nub sliding against the white snowy floor.

"Gideon, you need to-"

" _Is Finn okay_ -"

Finn had a large gash down his back, blood staining the snow underneath him, trailing in a line for a few feet. Gideon guessed he was dragged over here. He wasn't moving, and the captain couldn't tell if he was even breathing. The moment her eyes landed on him heavy panic brought her head back into the snow.

"I don't know... he's hurt." Rey shook her head, "He's alive, but barely. Chewie should be here by now, we need to get out of here."

Gideon nodded slowly, her eyes going back to the sky. Slowly she rested her head down for a moment, heaving a few shaky breaths as hopelessness strangled the three of them. Now that she was certain she was alive, and the day's events had been brought back into her memory, it didn't look so peaceful. The snow stung her face like tiny knives, her body aching and pained. The trees looked dead, the sky unwelcoming.

She wanted to close her eyes, but the dizziness that took ahold of her head whenever she blinked told her it might not be a good idea. Still, though, her eyes drooped and fluttered.

"Gideon." Rey gently shook her shoulder again, "You have to stay awake, keep your eyes on me."

Gideon flinched unconsciously, which caused Rey to furrow her brows with concern. The captain was shaking uncontrollably from the cold, her eyes hazy and unfocused. She looked terrified, but said nothing as she stared up at the sky.

Then, footsteps. The ground had started to shake, explosions lighting up the dark sky somewhere in the distance. Rey stood attentively, relief washing over her face.

" _We have to go_." Chewbacca called, " _They're one hit away from blowing up the whole thing._ "

His massive feet skidded to a halt when he fully took in the scene in front of him. Rey was the only one unharmed, except that she was freezing. Finn was unconscious, and Gideon was close to it, her severed arm staining the snow that it touched red.

The Wookiee grumbled with worry, immediately picking up Finn to take back to the ship. However, he waited until he knew that Gideon was going to be okay.

" _Dalia_." He said as Rey helped the girl sit up, " _Your arm_ -"

"I'm..." Gideon winced, her colorless face contorted in a disoriented pain, "I'm okay-"

"We need to get them back to Q'Dar." Rey said urgently, "We can't lose anyone else..."

The scavenger eased Gideon to her feet, her eyes glassy at the words that had unconsciously left her mouth. Chewie let out a small cry, nodding his head meekly as he started off towards the Falcon.

Although she had lost feeling in them, Gideon's legs were walking slowly forward. The shock of her feet hitting against the ground was in tune with her heartbeat. Rey held her tightly, keeping her right arm wrapped around her shoulder to help the captain walk, trying to push her to move more quickly. The ground around them was crumbling, the planet moments away from combustion.

The captain turned around, her eyes immediately landing on her brother's injured, dark figure slumped in the snow. Her heart tightened as she realized that he would probably die here.

"Ben..." she whispered, her hand gripping tightly onto Rey's forearm, her whole body going rigid, though she kept her pace even with the scavenger's. She knew they couldn't turn around. It would be too late.

Rey and Gideon practically collapsed into the Falcon, both exhausted and freezing. The captain's focus remained in a haze between wake and sleep, honestly wishing she was back in the woods looking peacefully at the sky.

When she was moving and looking around, she only remembered what had happened on Starkiller Base. The physical and emotional pain only grew worse. When she was still, her eyes closed... she felt like she could just slip into a world of her own, serene and calm, starkly contrasting the normal tone of her life.

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, her legs were moving. People were on either side of her, Chewie and Rey. Her legs practically dragged behind, her head feeling weighted and too heavy for her neck to carry. All she wanted to do was sleep. She wanted to forget, to be in that blissful ignorance she loved so much when thinking about her family.

However, no matter how hard she tried to imagine her father doing anything else, all she could picture was the betrayed, resigned look in his eye as Kylo Ren's lightsaber was shoved through his chest. All she could hear was his pure belief that there was still good in his son, something that Gideon had put in his head, only for it not to be true.

_It's your fault he's dead... and you know that_.

She was sitting in a chair behind Chewie and Rey as they piloted the Falcon off Starkiller Base. The echoes of the planet's explosion bounced between her ears, the flashes of light and flame reflected in the sides of the windshield.

They had succeeded. The weapon was destroyed, billions upon billions of lives were saved... but at what cost?

The captain blinked a few times, suddenly aware of the feeling in her toes and fingers. She felt warmer, though still shivered, the old blanket Chewbacca had found rubbing against her bare arm. The warmer and less numb she became, the more her severed arm radiated a hot, sticky pain that traveled all the way up into her shoulder. The already damaged and scarred tissue throbbed from the trauma her arm had been through, the wound open and burnt. Despite being cauterized from the lightsaber's heat, the nub stained the blanket red.

" _Dalia_." Chewbacca turned around, sitting in her father's chair. In the empty chair beside the woman were a few rolls of bandages. It wouldn't do much in the long run, but it would keep the woman from losing anymore blood until they landed on Q'Dar.

Gideon winced as she moved, her lips parted as a gasp of pain cut through the weighted silence. Her eyes, unfocused and almost expressionless, slowly moved up to the Wookiee.

"Chewie." She whispered, "I'm fine... I'm okay."

She hated saying that, and the fact of how true it was. Her arm was gone, but she was alive. It bothered her that while her father was dead and Finn close to it... she had survived.

"I'm good to pilot if you want to..." Rey trailed off, her eyes falling on Gideon. Chewbacca nodded, grabbing a roll of bandages to secure and protect the open and exposed severed remains of the captain's arm. He knelt down beside her, pulling on the blanket so it fell at Gideon's lap.

The second she moved her arm, the clean bandages pressing against the raw tissue, pain spidered up through her shoulder and down to nonexistent fingertips. Gideon's eyes rolled as she yelled out, the intensity of the burning agony almost at bad as the initial chopping of her arm. Her nerves were begging for a break, her muscles exhausted and the enflamed tissue swollen with fatigue.

"Stop..." Gideon gasped, shaking her head, "Uncle Chewie-"

"Keep going." Rey called over her shoulder, "We have to bandage that wound."

" _No_..." she protested back, but it was too late. Her head drooped forward, tired from fighting off the pain.

_"I have to take it out, Dalia." Poe insisted, readying his meek supply of bandages, "I'm sorry."_

_"No..." was her feverish protest, shaking her head as her eyes fluttered, "Poe, don't-"_

_"Hey." He shook her other shoulder gently, "Look at me. Dalia, look at me, okay?"_

_Her eyes opened more slightly, but she was losing consciousness fast. The whites of her dark eyes were becoming more and more visible. The pilot nodded to himself, keeping her gaze as he counted to three in his head._

_Then, he pulled up on the spear lodged into her shoulder as hard as he could. He managed to yank it out in one try, the metal clattering to the ground next to them._

_A yell escaped her lips, eyes widening in shock and agony as the muscles and bone in her tissue were damaged even further. Blood had already started to exit the wound from both the entrance and exit points the spear had created._

_"What the_ hell _Dameron?" She breathed, her voice thick with pain, "Why'd you... why-"_

_She laid back down, squeezing her eyes shut._

_"I'm sorry." He was already fumbling with the bandages, pressing them down against the wound, "If we left it in any longer it would have killed you."_

_He waved his hand in front of her face, "Dalia?"_

"Gideon."

The pain in the remaining length of her arm quieted to merely a sharp ache, though any movement sent large amounts of splintering pain across her shoulder blade.

She blinked herself awake, startled by Rey's gentle touch.

"We're back."

Chewbacca had Finn bridal style in his arms, his pace quickened as he neared the ship's exit. The fatigue and grief in Rey's eyes remained the same as they did on Starkiller Base, but a tiny flicker of hope brightened them when she saw the captain react and move.

"We're home?" A weight slumped Gideon's shoulders forward. As much as she longed to be back, especially after what happened, guilt loomed over her head.

"Yeah." Rey nodded, offering a hand to her, "Come on."

The captain was able to stand more steadily. Her severed arm was wrapped tightly, secured to her abdomen with a few strips of fabric to keep it from moving. The pain was tolerable, Chewbacca probably injected her with something while she was out.

While Gideon insisted she could walk on her own, Rey kept an arm around her just to be safe, her brows furrowed in worry for both of her friends. Finn was rushed immediately to the med wing, a heart monitor placed on his chest and surrounded by the shouting of medical jargon no one understood. Gideon, while conscious and able to walk, couldn't shake her pained, vacant expression.

Rey wanted to make sure they'd both be okay, so while she couldn't do anything for Finn at the moment, the best she could do was be there for Gideon.

"How'd you..." Gideon winced as she took a wrong step, the soreness apparent in her slow and deliberate movements, "You fought him."

"Yeah." Rey admitted quietly, "I did."

Gideon turned her head slightly so that her eyes met the scavenger's. Her mouth was pulled into a tight line, the gears in her head churning as she studied the scavenger for a moment.

"I'm sorry you had to face him alone."

Rey was silent, though not because she thought Gideon was right, because she didn't. The scavenger could feel the weight on her friend's shoulders, the pain and the guilt that bowed her head and unfocused her eyes.

"Gideon..."

"I know what you're going to say." Gideon shook her head, "Please, Rey... don't."

They took their time down the ramp, exiting the quiet halls of the Falcon and entering the bustling and cheery Resistance hangar. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, everyone but those exciting the Millennium Falcon.

Her mother was waiting for them, standing just a few feet away from the ship. Gideon, at that moment, wanted to turn around and go somewhere else, her stomach twisting in unease. She didn't think she could face her, not now. But Rey had a grip around her waist, gently guiding her so that she wouldn't stumble and fall.

By the look in Leia's eyes, Gideon knew that she already knew about Han's death. It caused the captain to look away, eyes heavy with guilt. She stopped walking just a foot or two away from them, pulling herself away from Rey's supportive arm.

She couldn't look her in the eye.

"Dalia..." Leia began, but the sound of her mother's voice made Gideon stiffen, her face drained of color.

_It's your fault he's dead... and you know that_.

"Mom." Gideon shook her head, "Don't, I-"

She was wrapped in a hug, Leia cradling the back of Gideon's head with a gentle hand. Han was dead, there was no changing that, but Gideon could have been, too. The general was just glad that her daughter came back to her... mostly in one piece.

It took Gideon a moment to realize she was crying. Sobs shook her body, though they were quiet and held back. She melted into her mother, her arm wrapped desperately around her. It was the first time she had cried like this in years.

"Look at me." Leia held her daughter's face between delicate hands, "It's not your fault. You know that."

"Of _course_ it is." Gideon whispered, "Mom-"

"Dalia Padmé Solo." Leia's voice was saddened, though took on a tone of strength, "We knew the risks that it would take to try and bring our family together. To bring Ben back... it's going to take something more. It is not your fault for what happened."

Her mother's words rang inside her head, bouncing around and dueling with the harsh words of her brother. Gideon didn't know what to let herself believe.

Leia wiped Gideon's tears with her thumb, planting a kiss on her forehead. It would take more for her daughter to believe that Han's death was not her fault, but right now the only thing the captain needed was to rest.

"You need to get some rest." She warily eyed Gideon's missing arm, the nub bandaged tightly and supported against her chest, "Come."

Gideon nodded exhaustedly, not in the mood to speak or disagree with her mother. She walked close with Leia, her right arm linked with her mother's left.

As they slowly walked off to the med wing, Leia quietly whispered a story to her daughter, one that she heard many times as a child.

About a princess and a scoundrel who helped save the galaxy.


	25. Epilogue

"I thought I told you to come back in one piece?"

Poe stood at the foot of Gideon's bed, his arms folded casually across his chest as he studied the woman for a moment. Her dark eyes, though a bit hazy from the pain medicine, sparkled with mischief and amusement.

The captain let out a dry laugh, a small smile spreading on her lips, "Very funny, Dameron. Did you come up with that?"

"Too soon?" He asked, wincing from the slight embarrassment caused by his attempt at a joke.

Gideon shook her head, her eyes briefly falling on the droid working on her arm. They were repairing the damaged tissue, laying down the ground work for her prosthetic.

"Maybe." She looked up at him, "But you can't tell a joke to save your life anyways."

The pilot threw a hand up to his chest, "Wow, your just throwing punches today, aren't you?"

Shifting her legs to one side of the hospital bed, Gideon motioned for Poe to sit. They hadn't seen each other since their talk in the hangar just before the mission on Starkiller Base. She was glad to see that he was okay, and vice versa.

"How's Finn?" She asked, knowing that the pilot had been to visit the comatose patient just across the med wing.

"He's in a bacta suit. They're waiting for his wounds to heal before they move onto anything else." Poe explained, resting a hand on Gideon's calf, "They're hopeful, but it'll take some time."

She bit her lip, nodding slowly, "At least they're hopeful, right?"

"Yeah."

A heavy silence fell between them. Gideon shifted uncomfortably, earning an annoyed huff from the droid. Her eyes met Poe's for a moment, thinking about what she was going to say.

He beat her to it, "I'm glad you're okay, Dalia. Really."

Her lips twitched upwards, "We always find a way to come back to each other... don't we?"

"Looks like your stuck with me."

"Please." Gideon playfully rolled her eyes, "If I wanted to get rid of you, I _would_ , flyboy."

"Really." Poe took on a smirk dripping with mischief, "You think I'm that easy to get rid of?"

"No, it'd be terribly hard." Gideon laughed, "But who else would put up with me?"

Poe reached over and took her hand, giving it a tight, reassuring squeeze. As much as the woman in front of him seemed to be her usual quick-witted self, sadness was etched into her dark eyes, holding up a grief she couldn't seem to shake, even for a moment.

"Hey." He was serious this time, "You're okay?"

Gideon's mouth tightened into a grim line, shrugging her right shoulder with a sigh.

"No." She said honestly, "But hopefully I will be."

There was a soft knock against the wall, drawing both Gideon and Poe's attention. Rey was standing shyly, a bag slung over her shoulder and a jacket tucked under her arm.

"Sorry." The scavenger whispered, "I can come back if I'm interrupting-"

"No, stay." Gideon shook her head, "Someone needs to help me put Dameron's ego in check."

"Hey!"

"The opportunity presented itself, don't be a baby, loser."

"Actually." Rey held back a laugh at their banter, "The General asked to see you, Poe."

He immediately shot a look to Gideon, not wanting to leave her side if she didn't want him to. However, the captain just nodded, quirking a brow when the pilot did not get up right away.

"Go." Gideon smirked, "Don't keep my mother waiting. I'll be here when you get back."

Poe was cautious, "You sure?"

Instead of a witty retort, Gideon just nodded quietly.

He got up, sending a quick nod to Rey before picking up his pace. Gideon watched him leave until he disappeared around the corner, away from the med wing.

She turned her gaze towards Rey, "Leaving?"

Rey sat down at the edge of Gideon's bed, where Poe had been moments before. She nodded.

"Chewie's loading up the ship. We leave within the hour." She explained.

She looked different from the moment Gideon first met her. Instead of worn rags, Rey was wearing clean, crisp clothes and a new jacket. Her hair was damp, half of it pulled back. She looked grown up, confident.

"Come with me." Rey said, the question released from her mouth suddenly and unexpectedly, "We can find your uncle together."

"Rey." Gideon shook her head, "I can't."

The girl quirked a brow, "Why not? You have it too, I can feel it."

Rey was talking about the Force. Gideon had a gift, she wouldn't deny it, but that path wasn't meant for her, both of them knew it.

"It's not meant for me." Gideon admitted, "It wouldn't be right."

Rey didn't understand, remaining in silence as she waited for the woman to continue.

"Rey... this is something you have to do on your own." The captain explained, "You can find Luke, learn from him, and bring him home. This was map created for _you_ to follow."

"It wouldn't feel right to go without you." Rey said, "After everything..."

"I've been running away from this place the last seven years. Maz was right... it's time that I come home." Gideon smiled, giving Rey's arm a squeeze, "This is where I belong."

The scavenger nodded, understanding what the captain meant. If she agreed with it or not, she didn't let it show. Instead, she pulled out the jacket from underneath her arm, laying it on Gideon's lap.

Han's jacket.

"I had your mother help me repair it a bit... thank you." Rey got up, adjusting her backpack on her shoulder, "Really, thank you for everything."

Gideon pulled the jacket to her chest, warmth spreading through her at its smooth leather feel. She looked up at Rey, speechless, her lips parted in surprise.

"Rey... you didn't have to..." Gideon shook her head in disbelief, "I know how much he meant to you-"

"Gideon." Rey interrupted, "You meant everything to him. He'd want you to have it."

She took a few step back, signaling that it was time for her to go. The two young woman exchanged a small conversation with their eyes, both promising to stay safe and keep the other updated. As Rey turned, ready to begin her journey to find Luke Skywalker, Gideon stopped her one last time.

"Rey?" She called, a dutiful smile spread onto her lips. Rey turned, a brow raised in question, though something inside her told her what the captain was going to say.

"Call me Dalia."


End file.
